Momentum
by xbleeple
Summary: 10 years ago he crashed into her - and they hadn't stopped moving since. Snapshots of a life in motion. [Sequel to Two to Tango, Die with You, and Heat of the Moment]
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** Thanks for making your way over from "Two to Tango"! This fic is going to be more of a collection of one (or two) offs through the next few years, so more frequent time jumps than we've had lately. We are starting out slow at first :) Enjoy!

* * *

 _April 1996_

"Your mom laid your dress out on the bed with your tights," Andy tells Emily as she gets up from the dining room table. He'd made her and Ricky some toast before they left for church considering it was going to be a longer service and they weren't going out for food until afterward. It was Easter Sunday and they were meeting their parents at Mass. After the service they were staying for the twins' baptism. Both sets had come out earlier the week before to finally meet the twins and spend the holiday with the family, "Don't linger in the bathroom. Your brother still needs to shower too."

"Okay!" Emily smiles before running off to her room.

"Rick, why don't you go get your nice pants and shirt out of the laundry room?" Andy tells his son, "I ironed them last night, so don't just throw them on the bed."

"You ironed them?" Ricky wrinkles his nose, "I thought Mom did that."

"Mom was getting the twins' outfits ready," Andy tells him before nudging him in the direction of the laundry room. He quickly cleans up after their breakfast snack before following Ricky to his room and making sure that he lays out the clothes carefully.

"After your sister gets out of the bathroom you get in and shower."

"Can I play with my Gameboy til then?"

"Sure," Andy nods and smiles before going to check on Sharon, stepping through to their bathroom, "How are we doing in here?"

"Almost done," Sharon calls out from the shower. The twins were sitting in their bathtubs on the floor of the shower cubicle, playing with a couple of keychain toys as Sharon took her own shower.

"I gave the kids some toast and they're getting ready," Andy tells her as he leans against the counter, watching as she works conditioner through her hair.

"You're staring," Sharon comments as she looks over her shoulder and catches his eyes through the slightly foggy glass.

"I like staring," Andy grins as he drags his eyes over her form. The twins were almost three months old and it had taken a few weeks before the initial 'bump' went away. She was still a little thick around the waist and her form filled out more than usual with wider hips and heavier breasts, but he loved it all the same, "I like what I see."

"Hmm," Sharon makes a small sound and tips her head back to wash the conditioner out of her hair. She turns the water off and squeezes the excess water from her hair, turning around when she hears the door to the shower open. Andy holds her robe open for her and tucks it around her body as she steps into it, "Thank you."

"You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes," Andy murmurs in her ear as she ties the sash shut.

"I give myself plenty of credit, and I'm realistic."

"Me too," Andy kisses her cheek before stepping around her to grab the twins. He hands her Drew as he takes Libby, snapping a towel off the counter and wrapping her in it, "Aren't we, Libby Mae?"

"Don't rope the children into it," Sharon chastises as Libby gives her father a wide gummy grin. Andy grins back and kisses the little girl on the nose before carrying her into the bedroom. He quickly dries her off and gets her wrapped into a diaper before handing her a toy to occupy herself with.

"Where are their outfits?"

"In the nursery. There are two boxes on top of the dresser," Sharon tells him as she gets Drew's diaper on. Andy nods and heads into the nursery to grab the outfits that had been purchased for them. They get the twins dressed in simple white onesies, leaving them to play on the bed as they get dressed themselves. Andy finishes buttoning his shirt and tucks it into his pants before buckling up.

"I am going to go check on Emily and Ricky, you alright?"

"Yeah," Sharon nods and flashes a quick smile as she leans closer to the mirror to put her earrings in. She fastens both of the pieces of jewelry on before picking up the diamond cross that Andy had gifted her on their first Christmas together. She slips it around her neck as one of the twins lets out a yell and she hears the clatter of the plastic keys falling to the floor, "What are you two back there doing?"

Sharon puts on her bracelet before turning her attention back to the babies. She picks the keys up from the floor and gives them to Drew who had his fingers around his sister's ring, trying to pull them to his mouth. She puts pillows on either side of them before going into the bathroom to collect her makeup, bringing it into the bedroom to sit at the vanity. She manages to get the majority of her makeup on before they loose focus and she hears both toys clatter to the floor and fussy whines.

"Hang on, hang on," She swipes on her lipstick and puts the tube down before walking over to the bed, grabbing the toys from the floor again, "There see, Mommy's done."

"The older monsters are watching TV," Andy says as he walks back in, "All dressed and ready to go."

"Thank you," Sharon smiles as she grabs the first outfit and begins to dress Drew. Andy steps into their closet and grabs his tie and jacket, bringing them out to the bedroom before starting to knot his tie and finish getting ready. She manages to get both of the twins into their outfits without too much fuss before she sighs and looks at her watch, "We must be getting good at this we're almost on time for once."

"Don't jinx it," Andy grins and grabs Drew as Sharon grabs Libby. The boy was dressed in a pleated white romper with a folded over collar while his sister was dressed in a more traditional gown. The white was playing nicely against the bright color of their hair and eyes. In their short three months the light strawberry blonde hair that they had been born with had deepened to a darker auburn, a much redder version of their mother's natural tone, and their bright blue eyes were starting to warm towards a hazel shade.

"Let's get going," Sharon smiles at her husband before heading down the hall towards the living room. They manage to get all four of the kids loaded into the car without incident before heading off for the church. Inside they find their parent's waiting and holding a pew for them. Sharon and Andy sidle down the lane first, handing the twins off to their grandparents before they all take their seats.

"Andy, are Vicky and the kids joining us?" Bill asks.

"They are stopping by the house after brunch," Andy says, "They were doing church and breakfast with Dan's family. That's why we were waiting for baskets and the egg hunt."

"Good," Mary smiles, "It will be nice to see all of the kids together."

"It will be nice to have the whole family together," Sharon agrees, "It's been quite a while since we've been able to do that."

"Do you think you'll make it out this summer at all?"

"I don't know about the summer, but I think we'll definitely plan on traveling a little at least for the holidays," Sharon replies with a slightly forlorn smile, "I'm afraid that all of the vacation we'd had saved up before we went to Europe last summer has been depleted between going on maternity leave early and taking a little extra time off after."

Their conversation stops as the doors to the church close and the service begins. The twins spend most of it sleeping, only waking up towards the end. Sharon and Andy manage to get a bottle in each of them before they start to fuss too much. Andy minds the children as the adults get up to take communion, Emily holding onto her baby brother as people mill around.

"Why don't you go with them?" Emily asks as she looks up at her father.

"Go with who?"

"Mom and Nonna and Grammy and Papa. You never do communion when we go to church."

"You know I don't always come with you."

"Uh huh."

"It's the same reason I don't always come with," Andy comments, "I've got a different relationship with God than your mom does, or even you do."

"Cause you're an alcoholic?"

"Yeah," Andy smiles. His middle daughter was blunt, it was a trait she'd inherited from both of them but she definitely didn't always have the tact her mother did and that was his fault, "But there was other stuff, even before that. And sometimes when you get older, you need different things out of church than you did when you were younger."

"Like what?"

"Lots of things. Guidance, refuge, a helping hand…sometimes you don't need or want any of that."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It rarely does," Andy smiles, looking up as Sharon makes her way back down their pew.

"Father Espinoza said that it shouldn't be much longer and then we can get started," She informs her husband before brushing her hand over her daughter's head as the baby grins at her. She smiles back and squats down to her level, tickling under her chin for a moment before Drew lets out a squawk for her attention, "What are you feeling neglected? Hmm?"

"I didn't think it was possible for a baby to be a bigger ham than Ricky was," Andy comments as Drew coos and smiles at his mother's attention.

"Mmm I think Ricky just had that natural Flynn charm, but this little boy is definitely a ball of cheese," Sharon grins and peppers his cheeks with kisses before standing up with him. She turns around as she hears her name called out, raising her hand and waving at Gavin and Andrea as they make their way over.

"Hello, hello," Gavin greets, "Happy Easter."

"Thank you for coming," Sharon says as she leans over the pew to press a kiss to his cheek, "How are you guys?"

"Starving," Andrea comments, "Gavin would only let me order a latte when we stopped for coffee, said that I can't ruin my breakfast because this restaurant is to die for."

"It is pretty good," Sharon laughs, "Andy and I have been a few times, though never for brunch. But Gavin assured us it would do for Easter Sunday."

"Where are the rest of the Flynnlings?" Gavin asks with a grin as Andy rolls his eyes. Sharon shakes her head and hands Drew over to him before smoothing out her dress.

"They are doing mass and lunch with Vicky's in-laws. They'll be at the house later though," Sharon informs them as their parents come back, "Mom, Dad, you remember Gavin and Andrea?"

"We do," Mary nods, "How are you both?"

"Well," Gavin answers for the both of them as Andrea coos over Drew, "It's nice to see you again."

"And Connie, I don't know that you have actually met these two," Sharon says, "This is Gavin Baker and Andrea Hobbs. Guys, Andy's mother, Connie Flynn."

"I have not, though I have heard plenty over the years," Connie smiles, "All good things of course."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Andrea replies, reaching out to shake Connie's hand, "It's nice to finally meet the woman behind the man."

"I tried my best," Connie grins as she looks at her son. Andy rolls his eyes.

"Gee thanks Ma," Andy grumbles as Father Espinoza joins their group, telling them all that he was ready to start with the baptism. He stands and hands Libby over to Andrea before they all make their way towards the front of the church. He wraps his arm around his wife's waist, holding her close as they walk through the small ceremony. He feels her tense when the twins start to cry after the priest pours water over the tops of their heads. He presses a reassuring kiss to her forehead and smiles as he murmurs in her ear, "They're fine, Mama Bear."

"I know," Sharon whispers, swatting at his leg. She steps over quickly once they finish, taking Drew from Gavin and pressing a soft kiss to his head as he sobs. Andy pulls Libby's pacifier out of the diaper bag and gives it to her as Andrea continues to hold her.

"There you go," Andrea smiles at the baby as she takes the piece of plastic in her mouth and begins to suck on it.

After an afternoon of food and egg hunting with six kids and their families present Sharon was glad to see everyone off at the end of the day. Her feet hurt from wearing heels for the first time in six months and her breasts hurt from using bottles for the twins most of the day. She'd only been able to escape to pump a couple of times throughout the afternoon. Andy was currently in the process of putting them down in the bedroom while Emily and Ricky were sprawled out on the floor playing with some of the new toys they'd received in their easter baskets. She leans against the couch as she lifts her feet to tug her shoes off, sighing as she sinks down to her regular height.

"Why don't you two clean up and get ready for bed hmm?" Sharon suggests.

"But we don't have school tomorrow," Emily points out.

"You can still go to bed at your regular time," Sharon tells her. The grandparents were taking the kids to Disney the next day since the children didn't have school and the adults were all heading back east early Tuesday morning. She knew that if the kids didn't get enough sleep they'd become terrors even earlier than usual after a long day of lines and walking around. The girl sighs and rolls her eyes just slightly before stuffing everything back into her basket and pushing herself up off the floor. Sharon leans over and presses a kiss to her head as she walks past, doing the same to Ricky before collapsing down onto the couch with a groan. She leans her head back and closes her eyes as she hugs one of the throw pillows to her chest, taking a moment to enjoy the quiet.

"So I talked to Harrison earlier…" Andy says as he steps into the living room, trailing off when he sees his wife sitting on the couch with her eyes closed.

"Hmm?" Sharon hums to let him know that she was listening.

"I talked to Harrison earlier about that accident we drove by on the way to brunch," Andy continues as he walks over and sits down next to her. Sharon shifts her weight and leans against him, still cradling the pillow against her chest, "He said it wasn't anything serious just a fender bender."

"Then why all of the EMS?" Sharon replies. Their arrival at brunch had been delayed by traffic. At first they had assumed that it was just the usual LA traffic magnified by the holiday, but the deeper they got into it it was evident that there had been an accident. Both Sharon and Andy had assumed it was relatively serious from the amount of emergency services that were on the scene.

"Get this. The lady that rear ended the other guy, decided to drive herself to the hospital after she went into labor. Hit the accelerator instead of the brake at the light…" Andy rolls his eyes, "The patrol officer that got the call ended up having to deliver the kid at the scene. Bouncing baby boy."

"Oh lord," Sharon sighs, "I hope everyone was alright."

"He said they checked in a little bit ago and mom and baby were fine. Which surprised him, she seemed a little…strung out? I don't know. No one was hurt though and that's the good thing," Andy assures her before laughing, "I was always surprised I managed to avoid one of those pullovers while I was on patrol. Dad racing down the street to get his wife to the hospital."

"Mmm, my first partner and I got one when I first started. I was probably only a couple months in, he took care of everything though," Sharon laughs, "I ended up directing traffic."

"Seriously?"

"Mmhm," Sharon nods, "The exciting times of 1981 LA."

"You're telling me," Andy smiles and presses a kiss to the top of her head, "Did you get everything you wanted for Easter?"

"You're not supposed to _want_ anything for Easter," Sharon reminds him, "Though I was grateful for the chocolate bunny you seemed to materialize out of nowhere."

"I'm magic like that," Andy grins, "I thought you deserved a little better than a grocery store milk chocolate bunny."

"I do," Sharon nods in agreement with a smile, her forehead rubbing against his shirt.

"Oh getting a little full of ourselves are we?"

"Just being honest," Sharon says, finally looking up at Andy and opening her eyes, "I thought that's what you wanted."

"Smartass," Andy murmurs as he leans his head down and presses a kiss to her lips. Sharon chuckles against his mouth before humming softly as he deepens the kiss. He pulls back a moment later and smiles as he rests his hand on her thigh, "I love you though."

"I love you too," Sharon smiles and arches her eyebrow as Andy drops his arm behind the couch before pulling out a tiny purple basket, "What is that?"

"Your Easter basket," Andy says as he hands it to her. The small base was only the size of a couple handfuls but had been delicately stuffed with pale green paper grass and a small jewelry box with a white bow on top.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Sharon says as she takes the basket, "We're supposed to be saving money."

"I'd ordered it a while ago, and I picked up some extra time to pay for it," Andy replies. Sharon gives him a look before taking the box out and opening it up. Nestled inside was a simple, thin, silver cuff bracelet with an engraving on the inside face. She lifts it out and turns it over in her hand, inspecting it closely. On one end the twins' birthday was engraved on the other their initials separated by a swirling ampersand, "I know it's hardly the earrings I got you when we got married, but…"

"It's perfect," Sharon assures him with a bright smile on her face as she runs her thumbs over the engravings. She holds the band out to Andy and holds her right arm out in front of them, silently prompting him to slip it onto her wrist. He smiles and takes the piece from her, slipping it carefully around her wrist bone. She twists her wrist a few times before dropping it into her lap, "Thank you. I really do like it."

"You're welcome," Andy replies as he presses a kiss to her head laughing softly as both Ricky and Emily call out for her at the same time, "No rest for the wicked."

"No, I suppose there isn't. At least not for the next few years."

* * *

[TBC]


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:** Thanks for the reviews, glad to see people are still enjoying following the Flynn's around.

* * *

 _August 1998_

"Bye my darling babies," Sharon murmurs as she leans down to press a kiss to Drew's head before doing the same to Libby. The toddlers were knelt next to the coffee table coloring while Emily and Ricky watched tv. She brushes her daughter's bouncy, red pigtails before kissing the older kids, "Be good, listen to the babysitter. Bed by 9. I love you."

"Yes, mom," Ricky and Emily drone in unison. Sharon rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a small smile before meeting Andy at the front door.

"Kids," She huffs slightly with a grin before following him out to the car. Andy had talked her into calling a babysitter for a Friday evening they both were scheduled completely off. There were no meets or games or recitals to go to. They had an evening completely free and he was hell bent on taking her out for their first proper date in a long while. He makes his way to the passenger side of the car, opening her door for her.

"M'lady."

"Thank you," Sharon smiles and climbs into the passenger seat before Andy shuts the door and goes around to the driver's side. He climbs up himself before starting the car and backing out of the driveway. Sharon rests her hand on his leg as he drives, "Any hints as to where we are going?"

"Back in time a bit," Andy says mysteriously.

"Back in time?" Sharon questions before humming quietly.

"You'll like it," Andy assures her with a smile. Sharon smiles back and squeezes his leg, enjoying their drive through the city. She's not surprised to figure out that they are headed for the beach, but arches her eyebrow slightly when they pull up to a non-descript bar and grill a bit of the way off of one of the boardwalks. Andy parks the car and hops down from the driver's seat before going over to Sharon's side and opening the door. Her head tilts as she continues to look at the restaurant.

"Have we been here before?"

"Yes," Andy nods as he holds his hand out, "It's been a while though."

"It must have been," Sharon shakes her head before taking her husband's hand and following him inside. They are sat at a table by the open windows and given menus after they put in their drink orders. Andy orders a Coke as Sharon orders a glass of white wine after being rebuffed by the waitress that they didn't have a wine 'selection'; they had red, and they had white. She rolls her eyes after the waitress walks away as he laughs, both of them picking up their menus.

"I think a burger sounds good," Andy says.

"You always think a burger sounds good," Sharon grins as she looks over the menu, "But tonight I'm in the mood to agree. I was getting tired of chicken. If I see another chicken nugget in my life it'll be too soon."

"Aren't the kids having chicken nuggets tonight for dinner?"

"Yes! I'm trying to get rid of them," Sharon laughs, "We bought that damn economy size bag at Costco. It was a terrible idea."

"Oh yeah," Andy chuckles himself before tapping his menu against the table, "How about appetizers?"

"What were you thinking?" Sharon replies, continuing to look over her own menu.

"Mozzarella sticks?" He suggests with an arched eyebrow. She brings her menu to her face, her eyes peeking out from behind. After a moment they crinkle and she nods enthusiastically. The waitress comes back with their drinks and Andy orders first, asking for the mozzarella sticks and a cheeseburger and fries. Sharon hands over her menu as she orders a cheeseburger for herself as well.

"Toppings?"

"I'll do bacon as well, just tomato and mustard. Can I do a side salad instead of fries as well?"

"Sure," The waitress nods, "Dressing?"

"Italian please," Sharon smiles.

"Alright, I'll have those sticks out for you soon," The waitress tells them with a small smile before leaving the table. Sharon takes a sip of her wine and lets the liquid roll along her tongue for a moment before she swallows.

"How's the white?" Andy teases.

"I'm pretty sure it's a chardonnay?" Sharon questions with a tilt of her head before shrugging and taking another drink. She sets her glass down and stretches her hand across the table, curling her fingers around Andy's. She squeezes gently as she smiles at him and slowly traces the bumps of his knuckles with her thumb, "I'm glad we decided to do this."

"Me too," Andy smiles back, looking down at their joined hands. His thumb reaches up and brushes over her wedding rings, "I wish you would let me get you something better."

"Why?"

"Because, you deserve something besides a plain ring. At least _a_ diamond," Andy reasons. Many times over the last few years he'd tried to talk her into letting him get her a new ring or upgrade the one she had. She always fought back on his offer though telling him in no uncertain terms that she loved her ring and didn't need anything else.

"I don't need diamonds," Sharon says in a gentle tone that let him know she was humoring him by having this conversation again, "I don't need a new ring. I don't _want_ diamonds or a new ring."

"But..."

"Andy, I love my ring, a lot," Sharon interrupts, "It means a lot to me. It's a reminder of what we've been through together. I don't need some big fancy rock on my finger to impress people. All I need is the ring you bought me because you wanted me to wear it, because you were willing to wait for me for...forever if you had to. It's not _just_ a ring to me. None of the jewelry, or anything, for that matter, you've ever given me is."

"I love you, you know that right?"

"Of course I know that," Sharon smiles, watching as he lifts her hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to the back of it. Every once in a while he still surprised her with how romantic and sentimental he could be., "I don't need the best. All I need is you."

"Mmm, I can only hope I'm enough."

"You most certainly are," Sharon squeezes his hand again before looking around the restaurant. The decor wasn't tacky, but it wasn't high end. The tables at least had table cloths on them, if only to hide tacky laminate underneath. There were a couple TVs around the bar area that were showcasing sports highlights and the pregame for the Dodger game that night. A small corner was set aside for a live band with a small dance floor area laid out in front, most likely for use on the weekend evenings. It wasn't necessarily a place she wouldn't be caught dead in but she can't imagine that she would have arranged for her and Andy to ever actually come have dinner here. It was out of the way of their usual beach haunts, and just out of the way in general, "When did we ever come here?"

"Still bothering you huh?" Andy laughs, "I'll make you a deal. If you don't figure it out by the end of the night, I'll tell you. And I won't even be offended."

"How kind of you to take pity on me," Sharon laughs before looking up as their waitress brings over their basket of mozzarella sticks, setting it on the table between them along with two small tea plates.

"Can I get you anything else to go with these?"

"Actually a side of ranch would be great," Sharon asks with a shade of guilt.

"Sure, I'll bring it right over," The waitress smiles before retreating.

"God you are so gross," Andy comments as he picks up one of the sticks. Sharon rolls her eyes as she reaches out to grab one for herself.

"Once again, if you hadn't gotten me pregnant, I wouldn't have had the craving to put ranch all over everything, and I wouldn't have kept putting it all over everything afterwards," Sharon points out with a grin before biting the end off of the fried cheese, hissing as she encounters hot steam encased within, "Hot!"

She glares at Andy as he laughs as she tries to bite off the cheese, only succeeding in pulling out a long string of it and burning herself in the chin before she gives up on the whole thing and drops it onto her plate, "Crap that's hot."

"I see," Andy says as he puts his down on his own plate, giving it time to cool off. The waitress drops off the side of ranch a couple moments later and Sharon gives the snack a second chance after dipping it into the cup of dressing.

The two continue to talk over their appetizers and dinner, Andy watching with interest as Sharon devours her burger not leaving a lick behind on the plate. The waitress asks if they want anything else before dropping their bill off. Andy scans the receipt and drops enough cash to cover the total and tip before getting up and offering his hand to Sharon. She finishes the last dredges of her wine before taking his hand and pulling herself up.

"So, any ideas of when we were here yet?" Andy asks as he walks her out the back of the restaurant and onto the walkway that ran along the back of the few restaurants set out there. The breeze off the ocean wasn't too heavy, but the waves were rolling against the shore heartily while the sun was starting to set. It was late summer so the nights weren't as long as they had been but they were still able to get a bit of sun after dinner.

"It does seem familiar," Sharon comments as she leans against the railing for a moment, taking a deep breath of the salty air, "I can't place it though. It must be important if you remember it."

"I don't know if that's a dig or not," Andy laughs as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her back against his chest. He presses a kiss to her head and squeezes her tight, his rough voice quietly filling her ear, "Regardless though, 10 years ago I walked out of that bar to find you leaning here, much like you just were…and I was struck. I'd spent three years trying to get 20 minutes in another bar out of my head, and when I saw you here and when you kissed me as we sat on the beach together I realized it was a futile effort. It's one of the most sobering moments I've had in my life. And I was a dozen sheets to the wind."

"I think by the time I kissed you we were laying more than sitting," Sharon replies as a soft smile stretches across her lips. She turns her head to look back at Andy and squeezes his hand resting on her middle, "Your promotion party."

"My promotion party," Andy nods in agreement, "Someone at work reminded me the other day that I've been a sergeant for a decade. And it got me thinking about that night, about other things."

"I'm honestly surprised either you or I remember anything...we were so drunk when we left," Sharon comments, her mind drifting back to that night if only for a moment.

Their escapades on the beach had come to a close when a burst of raucous cheering from the bar had interrupted the afterglow with Sharon slumped against his chest as the world spun around her. Her heart was beating an impatient rhythm against her ribcage and her nerve endings felt like they were melting and on fire all at the same time. The solid chest beneath her shaking form had been a comfort as she tried to banish the horrible thoughts that immediately started to plague her. The empty bourbon bottle and tablecloth had been abandoned in the sand as they took a wide berth of the bar to find a cab on the main road, heading back to the hotel Andy had been staying at. By the time they arrived they probably should have been arrested for public indecency, or at least warned, for the things that happened in the back of that cab. When her back hit the mattress in his hotel room she didn't know how they had gotten there and if she was still drunk on the liquor or drunk on him.

"It wasn't all bad," Andy comments, breaking her train of thought as her eyes snap back up to his, "We got Ricky out of it."

"We did," Sharon's smile brightens.

"That night, I knew I wanted you...I needed to have you. You were and are...so ingrained in my system. I don't know how you do it," Andy continues to explain to her. Sharon could tell that he had been thinking about that night a lot with the way he was talking. If she told anyone at the station how much of a romantic he could be when he wanted to he'd probably get laughed out of the building. But she liked it. It made him much more charming to her, not that he needed to be. She leans up on her toes and presses her lips to his in a deep kiss. Pulling back she strokes her fingers along his cheek as she gives him another kiss, this one quick and chaste.

"You certainly _had_ me," Sharon replies, her eyes sparkling, "My mother kept asking why I wasn't walking straight my first couple days there. I had to tell her I pulled a muscle running."

"Shar..."

"I used to think about you too. Most of the time when I was rocking Emily to sleep at night or if she was being particularly ornery. So, I'm not the only one that is invasive," Sharon admits as she stares up into his eyes, taking in the slight flecks of gold in the depths of chocolate as she finds herself lost in another memory, "That first Halloween we spent with Vicky when Ricky was a baby...she told me you used to mumble my name in your sleep. I was horrified."

"I couldn't get you out of my head," Andy shrugs and looks down at the ground, "God...I was such an asshole..."

"You have more than made up for it since," Sharon reminds him as she shifts their position and runs her hands up his back.

"Have I?" Andy questions. Sharon can see his brow furrow slightly and she dips her head down to kiss it gently.

"Most definitely," She whispers, "Absolutely, many times over. People grow and change. If you'd asked me 20 years ago if I thought I'd be here, I'd have laughed my way into an insane asylum. We've come very far and _you've_ come very far in 10 years, and I'm proud of you every day."

"I don't deserve you," Andy sighs softly.

"Well you're stuck with me anyway," Sharon replies as tips his chin up and gives him a playful grin. Andy grins back and kisses her hungrily.

"Good," He mumbles against her lips.

"How about we walk for a bit?" Sharon suggests. Andy nods and slips his hands into hers, squeezing before letting one go and pulling her with him as he walks towards the steps down to the beach. They both take their shoes off, holding them in their free hands as they step onto the sand and make their way closer to the tide. She digs her toes into the damp sand and sighs softly as she leans her head against her husband's shoulder. The two walk for a while in silence, enjoying as the sun dips below the horizon. They turn to head back before it gets completely dark and Sharon heaves a sigh as she lifts her head.

"What's on your mind?"

"I've been going back and forth on when to bring this up," Sharon starts.

"Cause that doesn't have me worried."

"It's not bad," Sharon smiles and takes a deep breath before letting it out, "I want to go back to school."

"Back to school? Law school?" Andy asks. After they had moved in together he had bothered her about it every so often, whether or not she was going to pursue the dream she'd had before Emily had come along. He spent a lot of time trying to convince her that they could make it work between student loans and his salary. Eventually she'd assured him that she was content working for the LAPD, she enjoyed it much more than she ever thought she would and liked the side of the law she stood on. Besides, she reasoned, if she ever got a whiff of ever wanting to go to law school again she'd only have to ply Gavin and Andrea with a couple bottles of wine and ask them about their days to remind her why she didn't want or need to.

"No," Sharon shakes her head, "There's a Masters of Public Administration program at USC. I could do it part time, in the evenings…it would take about two years. When I finish there's an automatic pay increase at work, but the main thing is that it would look better when I apply for promotions. My Captain's promotion is coming up next and I'd like to go further than that. I think I have plenty of merit, and I think the degree would set me apart and prepare me for more official leadership. At least it would counteract the knock I get for being a woman."

"That's great!" Andy says enthusiastically, stopping their progress towards the bar. He turns to look down at Sharon, smiling widely at her.

"You think so?" Sharon asks as she looks up at him apprehensively. They both had just lapped forty. One moment it seemed futile to go back to school and start all over again, the other age was just a number and if she wanted to better herself she had the right to do it.

"Of course. Honey, I think it's great that you want to do that," He replies with an encouraging tone, squeezing her hands.

"You don't mind? It's…tuition isn't cheap. And it means taking up part of if not all of the little free time we have."

"I don't care if it was a hundred thousand a year and took you half way across the world," Andy exaggerates, "If it's going to make you happy, do it."

"That's a bit much," Sharon laughs as her head drops back slightly, rolling her eyes at her husband's antics.

"I'm serious," Andy growls as he pulls her close, "If you want to go back to school, I think you should go back to school. And whatever you need from me…I'll give it. I want you to be happy and fulfilled. I do have one request though…"

"No cheerleading outfits."

"Damn," Andy curses. Sharon laughs and presses her lips against his jaw as he hugs her close, "You're going to do great. When do you plan on starting?"

"Ah…two weeks," Sharon bursts into a peel of laughter as Andy lets out another growl and starts to tickle her.

"Woman!"

* * *

[TBC]


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes:** Thanks to those that reviewed! As always I enjoy seeing your comments :) This _is_ going to be a two part moment, but I am only posting part one this evening.

* * *

 _October 2001_

"Can't talk, I'm running behind!" Emily shouts as she scrambles through the front door and down the stairs to her room still dressed in her ballet gear. She and Charlie had switched places a couple years before, the boys taking the main floor bedrooms and the girls taking the basement ones. Ricky rolls his eyes as he sits in front of the computer in the living room.

"What lame-o wants to date Emily?" He comments as he taps a couple of keys on the keyboard, chewing on his bottom lip. His sister had been asked out on a date that evening by a classmate of hers and Sharon and Andy had decided to let her go. They were meeting another set of friends at a restaurant close to the movie theater and catching a film afterwards.

"Richard!" Sharon accosts from the dining room table, papers and books were spread out in front of her and her hair was piled on top of her head in a clip, "What have I told you about using that kind of language? Especially in front of your brother and sister."

"Sorry mom," Ricky says with another eye roll, glancing over at Libby and Drew who were laying on the floor of the living room playing a game of checkers, not paying any attention to their older brother.

"And watch the eye rolling," She adds on without looking up from the paper in front of her.

"Is Dad ever coming home or does he just live at the station now?" Ricky calls back, reaching up to scratch at his face. He'd started having acne problems recently, the itchy welts popping up all over his skin. Sharon kept after him to stop touching his face, but he couldn't help it.

Andy had barely been home in the couple of weeks proceeding. He'd stopped home a few times to shower and nap, but otherwise Sharon was bringing him clothes and food to the station when she went into work. A case he and his partner had caught had them working tirelessly to pull all of the loose ends together. From the small amount she had heard, a young girl had been found burned alive from the inside out and her boyfriend was the prime suspect, but they were having a difficult time pinning it on him.

Sharon worried about him. He'd been having a difficult time lately, picking up horrible case after horrible case. She felt like he hadn't had a break from the inundation of death since early spring. Connie had passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack in the middle of March. The family had rushed across the country and spent their spring break in New York burying her and beginning to sort out her estate with Andy's sisters instead of making a planned trip up the coast. The older kids were distraught at the loss of their grandmother and the twins were old enough to feel the sadness in the air as the family gathered, occasionally curiously asking where their Nonna was.

Sharon could see that her husband was struggling inside as he tried to put on the brave face and take the lead with the arrangements. She tries to take as much weight off of the family as she can, making the phone calls she's able to and helping keep everyone sane and fed. The rest of the family had started to descend mid week and began to drown their sorrows in wine and food. She'd forced Andy out of the brownstone one evening to go to a meeting at the church down the street after his uncle had stuffed a wine glass in his hand, insisting the glass would make him feel better. He needed to go somewhere he could process without his family trying to stuff alcohol down his throat.

When they finally returned home they'd left New York with promises that they would continue to work on getting Connie's estate settled and figured out. A suitcase of mementos had been packed up and checked with the rest of their baggage and Andy spent the flight home sleeping fitfully, his fists clenched in his lap. Sharon wondered how hard it was going to be to bring him off the ledge, to get him to relax. She knew he was replaying moments in his mind. The years that he didn't keep in better communication because he was crawling into a bottle and his marriage was falling apart, hiding Emily and Ricky.

They thought once they got back to LA they would be home free. Their vacation was trashed, they all felt terrible, but things would be on the upswing. Picking up Lily and dropping off Nicole and Charlie were the only errands they had to do on the way home. They had taken her to the kennel at the vet's office. Using the kennel instead of friends became easier to do over the years and the vet usually gave them a discount if she stayed for a whole week. Lily liked playing with the other dogs and usually didn't seem so 'people sick' once they got home. Sharon knew something was wrong when Andy proceeded to storm out of the main office without the dog after he had already taken a while inside. She had hopped out of the car and intercepted him mid stride on his way back to the car.

 _"What's going on?" Sharon asks as she stops him with a soft hand to his chest. She could see the anger in his face, but she could also see that he was barely holding it together._

 _"She died," Andy whispers, unable to raise his voice anymore, "Two days ago. I forgot to change the contact information when we dropped her off…"_

 _"What?!" Sharon replies, not surprised to feel the tears well up in her eyes. She runs her fingers through her hair and shakes her head as she looks back at the car before her eyes move back to Andy, "What happened?"_

"Doc said she had cancer," Andy shrugs with a jerky movement, "Something fast moving. Didn't wake up the other morning."

 _"Where…"_

"They had to cremate her," Andy replies, finishing her thought, "He was grabbing her ashes…I couldn't stay in there anymore…"

 _"Alright," Sharon nods and takes a deep breath, swiping her fingers under her eyes to catch the tears pooled there, "Alright…Let's…"_

"None of this is alright!" Andy exclaims making Sharon jump at his loud tone, "Nothing that has happened in the last week is alright!"

 _"I know," Sharon snaps back in a more hushed tone, "Believe me I know that. Let's go in and get…get the dog, and let's go home and…I just want to get everyone home…"_

The girls and the twins had immediately burst into tears after hearing about Lily. Sharon had caught both Charlie and Ricky swiping at their eyes as they finished their quiet drive home. It had taken them quite a while to get back to normal. Sharon ended up postponing her last two classes to the fall, wanting to spend the summer with the kids and Andy. They hadn't been able to reschedule their trip at all. Lily's bed still lay in the corner of the living room, her toys piled in the middle, and no one seemed to be the one to move it. Sometimes Sharon often found herself wondering over the last few months if they shouldn't get another dog. Lily was dropped in their laps, but they had loved her so much and she had been a great fit for their family.

It seemed like the moment Andy had stepped foot back in the station he was jumping from one case to the next, spending more evenings on call and a lot of time out of the house. He made sure he was available for Ricky's baseball games, Emily's recitals, Charlie's swim meets, and Nicole's soccer games. He spent time with the twins, sometimes picking them up from their after school program when he was working late, other times making arrangements to be home when Sharon had class. Sometimes she felt like he was avoiding her, but others he would crawl into bed next to her and spill everything that was running through his mind. He was broken down and he was tired. He was starting to hate every bit of humanity, and he'd been working on a case for two weeks straight so she knew he was running hot. And she had no idea how to pull him off the ledge.

"He's got a bad case," Sharon says as she closes her book and gets up, walking over to the computer and putting her hands on the back of her son's chair, "Hopefully it will be over soon. I'm going to go check on Emily, will you keep an eye on Lib and Drew?"

"Yeah," Ricky nods, his reply distracted. He furrows his brow and clicks the enter button a couple times.

"Don't break the computer again," Sharon tells him as she moves to go down the stairs, "Otherwise it's coming out of your allowance to get it fixed."

"I know, I know," Ricky grumbles. He'd broken the computer twice in the last year poking around in the code and trying to change things. Sharon makes her way downstairs and could hear Emily clattering around in the bathroom with the radio on in the background. She turns the corner and smiles as she sees the girl leaning over the vanity applying her eyeshadow.

"Hey mom!"

"Hey, honey. I thought I'd come see if you needed any help," Sharon replies as she steps in and finds the curling iron heating away on the counter with a brush and hairspray next to it.

"Don't you have to study?" Emily asks as she drags the brush across her eyelid a few times before pulling back slightly and blinking.

"I could use a break," Sharon laughs.

"Okay, would you mind helping me with my hair?"

"Not at all," Sharon smiles before picking up the brush and taking a stance behind her daughter as she drags it slowly through her hair, working out the tangles. Emily still had a natural wave to her hair, the ends just barely twisting into curls as it hung to the middle of her back, but she liked to curl it and make it more pronounced, "So tell me again what your plans are tonight?"

"Is this some advanced interrogation technique to see if I'll screw up and tell you something else to show that I'm lying?" Emily asks with a grin, her eyes sparkling in a mischievous manner that was all her father.

"No, it's 'Mom working and going to school full time and taking care of four kids along with worrying about your father' brain," Sharon replies as she pulls off a section of Emily's hair and picks up the curling iron. What did she need to know if it _was_ an interrogation technique?

"Brandon is picking me up, we are going to In and Out for dinner with Callie and Tyler and then going to the Chinese Theater for the 8:10 showing of Glass House."

"In and Out, fancy," Sharon teases as she continues her work.

"Better than Olive Garden," Emily replies with a roll of her eyes.

"You'll be home by 11?"

"Yeah definitely," Emily nods as she swipes a pale tinted lip gloss over her mouth, rubbing her lips together for a moment. She puts the cap back on the container and swipes away a couple errant smudges before straightening up to let her mother finish her hair, "Is Dad going to be home soon?"

"He was going to try," Sharon says, "But I wrote down the riot act just in case he's not."

"Funny."

"I do try," Sharon murmurs as she releases the hair from the iron's grip, "I'll send you with my phone, you can call if you need anything. Ricky can always stay with the twins if I need to come pick you up. You know the rules…"

"No drugs, no booze, no babies," Emily repeats.

"You don't do anything that you aren't comfortable with, you don't go anywhere besides the restaurant and the theater without calling me…got it?"

"Yeah."

"I know these are your friends…but the world is a messed up place sometimes," Sharon reminds her in a soft voice, "Just be aware. You have Dad's and my badge number if you have to call the police. Dispatch will know how to get a hold of us."

"I know," Emily nods as Sharon runs her fingers through the curls that she had put together. Sharon grabs the can of hairspray and spritzes the ends lightly before grabbing a clip and pulling a few strands away from her daughter's face.

"There," Sharon smiles as she looks over Emily's shoulder, observing her daughter's reflection, "Perfect."

"Thanks," Emily smiles back at her mother in the mirror. The two of them jump as the doorbell sounds through the house, "That's probably Brandon."

"I hope so," Sharon smiles, "I'm not up for door to door salesmen at the moment."

Emily darts into her room and grabs a small cross body purse, stuffing her lipgloss into it along with her billfold. She and Sharon make their way upstairs finding Ricky standing in the entryway with Emily's date. The boy stood a couple inches taller than her daughter with shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was dressed in nice jeans and a polo and held a small bouquet of flowers in his hand. Sharon watches as his face lights up when he sees Emily come around the corner. The girl walks quickly over to him and leans up to kiss him on the cheek before smiling as he hands her the flowers.

"Brandon, this is my mom, Sharon, and you've obviously met Ricky. And that's Libby and Drew on the floor," Emily introduces, "Mom, this is Brandon."

"It's nice to meet you, Brandon," Sharon comments as she wraps her cardigan around her body a little more before extending her hand to him.

"It's nice to meet you as well, ma'am," Brandon smiles as he shakes her hand, giving her a firm grip, "Thank you for letting Emily come out with us tonight."

"Of course, no problem at all," Sharon nods as she stands observing them. Emily was obviously eager to get Brandon out of the house, anticipating that there was probably some embarrassing cop thing coming, "Do you have your ID on you?"

"Uh, what?" Brandon responds with a confused look on his face.

"Your ID, please," Sharon requests again, a warm smile still on her face.

"Sure," Brandon nods and digs in his back pocket before pulling his wallet out. He flips it open and slips his ID from the window pocket, handing it over to Sharon. She examines the card and turns it over in her hand a couple times before looking closer at the face and jotting down the ID number on the pad of paper on the entry way table. She hands it back to Brandon and widens her smile slightly.

"Thank you," Sharon says as she grabs the cell phone and twenty dollar bill she had waiting for Emily, handing them over to the girl along with her house keys, "Have a good time, be home by 11, call me if you need anything."

"I will," Emily says as she takes the items, shoving them into her purse before kissing her mother's cheek, "Love you."

"Love you too," Sharon smiles, surpassing a laugh as Emily drags Brandon from the house, hearing murmurs about leaving before she pulled her gun out. She shuts the door behind them, watching through the glass as Brandon opens the passenger door for her daughter and waits for her to get in before going around to his side, the two of them taking off a few moments later. She adds his license plate to the numbers she'd already written down before making her way to the dining room table to get back to her school work.

* * *

[TBC]


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes:** Sorry to bring the sads down a bit with this "moment" - I'm going to have to extend this to a three parter based on how this has paced out! Enjoy. Don't hate me, there's some smut to make it up to you.

* * *

 _October 2001, pt.2_

Once they saw Emily off for the evening, Sharon had suggested ordering pizza for dinner and let Ricky put in the order as she spent a little bit of time playing with the twins. After dinner she managed to get him into his room and the twins off to bed a little early, taking an hour for herself to watch an episode of Sex and the City. She'd missed the beginning of the season and Gavin had leant her his recordings to get caught up. She only managed to get the episodes in when she had time alone since the show was not appropriate for the kids, no matter how many times Emily and Nicole begged to watch it, and Andy didn't enjoy it.

After finishing the episode she slipped the VHS back into its sleeve, putting it up with the others before packing her books away and grabbing herself a glass to milk to take to bed after locking up the house. Ricky was always insistent on getting pepperoni and peppers on the pizza when he ordered and it usually ended up giving her a serious case of heartburn. She did not have the steel stomach the Flynn's seemed to inherit. Sharon only managed to finish a chapter of her book and the glass of milk before sleep began to claim her, prompting her to reach out and turn the light off.

Sharon hums as she stirs in bed, feeling a hand slip under her shirt to touch the warm skin underneath. She feels Andy's solid chest against her back and wrinkles her nose as she smells his cologne with the addition of the stale smell of the Parker Center. There was a fine line he walked after long cases. If it was short enough he would simply come home exhausted and sink into bed to sleep for twelve hours. Longer cases left him overworked and overtired and his mind racing. After enduring nights filled with tossing and turning and days of grumpiness, Sharon had finally figured out the easiest way to get him to relax was to have sex. It worked out well for them. By the time he hit that point in the case she hadn't seen him for a while anyway and was starting to miss him. And Andy wasn't hard to convince at all.

"You smell like work," She murmurs as he nuzzles her neck and presses soft kisses against her skin.

"I was hoping to talk you into a shower with me," Andy replies, his voice gruff against her skin.

"But I'm all warm," Sharon whines. Her breath hitches as his hand reaches its goal, cupping the weight of her breast in his palm.

"I wasn't planning on a cold shower."

"Carry me?" Sharon requests in a playful tone. Andy sighs and gets off of the bed. Sharon frowns and almost rolls over to see where he had gone to before squealing as he slips his arms under her form and snatches her out of bed. Her arms latch around his neck as he carries her into the bathroom, only pausing to set her down on the counter and turn on the low lights above the vanity. She watches as he reaches into the shower and turns the water on to heat up before shedding his clothes and dumping everything into the hamper. He turns his eyes on her and stands between her legs as he pushes the oversized t-shirt she was wearing up and over her head, "When do you have to be back?"

"Got a few days off," Andy murmurs his reply as his fingers skim down her sides before grabbing her underwear and pulling them down her legs, "Though we could probably pay for Nicole's first semester of college on the overtime from this case alone."

"Did you arrest him?" Sharon asks. It was one of the worst questions to ask a cop, but she couldn't help herself, wanting to know which side of Andy she was going to be dealing with the next few days.

"Yeah," Andy nods. Sharon could see that he was weary; his shoulders hunched, dark circles underneath his eyes, scraggly stubble lining his cheeks. Before he undressed his suit had been wrinkled with a coffee stain on the collar. She reaches up and runs her fingers over his cheeks and tips his chin up, studying him closer for a moment.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Andy nods again as he steps closer to Sharon, pressing his lips to hers. She hums and drapes her arm around his shoulder as the other moves up his side and around to his back, holding him to her as she kisses him back. A surprised sound escapes her as he lifts her body to his and her legs immediately latch around his waist as they walk to the shower.

Andy nudges the door open with his foot before stepping into the spray and using his back to shut it. He pulls back from their kiss and deposits her onto the bench that ran against the wall opposite the shower head. Sharon makes a face as he turns to grab his soap, the spray hitting her directly in the face. She shakes her now wet hair away before standing up and reaching beyond Andy to grab the soap from him. She lathers up the loofah before starting to scrub over his body.

Andy busies himself with washing his hair as Sharon washes him, only tipping his head back to rinse off when he feels a soapy hand around his cock. She drops the loofah on the floor of the shower and presses her body closer to his when she gets a response from her wandering fingers.

"I've missed you so much," Andy murmurs as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer.

"I've missed you too," Sharon replies as she kisses him softly, "But I knew what I was getting into when I married a police officer…homicide detective at that."

"I wish I did," Andy half smiles. Sharon smiles back and kisses him again, a little slower and deeper.

"How about we move this back to bed?" Sharon requests, "Little warmer and more dry."

"Promise?"

"Oh yeah," Sharon nods with a grin, reaching around Andy to turn the water off. She pulls him out of the shower and grabs a towel, half heartedly drying both of them off as they make their way back to bed. He takes the towel from her and rubs it over his head while his eyes drag over his wife's form as she folds back the sheets. He drops the towel over the footboard when she turns to look at him, her hands on her hips, "Where would you like me?"

"I don't know if I should find that incredibly sexy or…"

"Go with sexy," Sharon assures him as she holds her hand out to him. She pulls him to bed and climbs in with him, pulling the sheets back up around them. Andy groans as he sinks into the soft pillow top and she laughs as she shuffles closer to him, their fronts barely touching, "You sure you're not just going to fall asleep on me?"

"Have I ever?" Andy asks as he rolls onto his back and pulls her with him.

"No," Sharon murmurs before kissing him hungrily as her knees settle on either side of his hips. He groans as he kisses her back, his hands settling on her hips to guide her as she grinds against him. She slips a hand between them and wraps her fingers around him, stroking slowly to bring him to full mast. Her hips shift up and she watches his face as she guides him into her, groaning softly as her muscles stretch, "God…it's been so long."

"Yesssss," Andy groans in agreement, hissing slightly as he sinks into her. Her hand slips back up his chest with just the right amount of nail pressure before she slips her hands underneath him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She rests her weight against him as she kisses him softly.

"I've missed you…" Sharon whispers as he runs his hands up her back and thrusts into her, "I miss you when you're gone."

"I miss you too," Andy replies earnestly. His eyes darken as he moves underneath her, holding her close.

"I need you," She admits, a whimper in her throat. She knew that being slightly needy would get him off faster. Bring him to the release he so desperately needed and craved. None of it was lies. And she loved the way he held her a little closer, looked at her a little deeper, a furrow between his brow as he wondered how he had ended up with her.

Sharon bites at his bottom lip playfully before soothing it with a gentle kiss. She moves her lips along his jaw, her lips soft against the rough of his full shadow. Her teeth tug at his earlobe and a soft moan escapes her as her hips flex back against Andy's. She pushes herself up after loosening her grip, tossing her hair to the side as she looks down at him. Her eyes had changed to a deep forest green with wide dilated pupils, the few gold flecks still visible almost pulsing in the barely illuminated room.

The two of them continue to move together in silence, quiet grunts and groans permeating the air while they tried to be conscious of their kids asleep just down the hall. Sharon bites her lip as she grinds down against him, her eyes slipping closed only for a moment before they snap open and widen as Andy flips them over. He offers her a filthy grin as his hips rock hard into hers.

"Take me," Sharon whispers as she looks up at him with her hands clutching his biceps as they strain to hold his weight and support his motion. Andy groans and continues his quick hard pace, taking every piece of her he could as her moans continued to egg him on. He feels his limited control snap as he buries himself into her and whimpers her name as he cums hard. He groans as his body sags and he drops his head to her shoulder. His breaths come in heavy pants while he comes down from his high

"Fuck," He mumbles, lifting his head and offering her a sheepish look, "You didn't…"

"I'm good," Sharon assures him. She presses a soft kiss to his lips and rolls him off of her, sitting up on her elbow as she strokes his cheek, "You good?"

"Mmhm," Andy replies, his eyes already drooping. Sharon smiles and rubs her hand over his chest, stroking up and down as she gently combs her nails through his chest hair, sitting with him until he falls asleep. She takes a moment to clean up in the bathroom before wrapping her robe around her body and going to check on the kids. She peeks in on the twins, shaking her head with a small smile as she finds them in the same bed. Since they were infants they had settled easier if they were together instead of separate. Many times since they had moved them out of their cribs either she or Andy would come in in the morning to find one bed unoccupied and both of them curled up in the other.

Sharon takes a moment to straighten their blankets before going to check on Ricky and then heading downstairs to look in on her eldest. The alarm clock had told her it was a little after one and she hadn't heard Emily come in from her date at all. She'd meant to set an alarm, but had fallen asleep before she remembered. Sharon frowns when she sees Emily's door still wide open when she gets to the bottom of the stairs. Her daughter always closed her door at night when she went to bed. She steps closer to the room and feels her frown deepen when she sees the bed empty, no sign of the girl having been home.

Her heart begins to pound a little bit faster as she climbs the stairs again, making her way to the kitchen where the answering machine and phone base were. The machine was empty and there were no missed calls on the phone. Sharon reaches out and picks up the cordless, her thumb effortlessly dialing the number for her cell phone before she lifts it to her ear. The line rings twice before cutting over to an automated message.

" _You have been forwarded to a…_ " Sharon angrily stamps the one button before lifting the phone to her ear again, just in time to hear the beep for the voicemail.

"Emily, call me. Now!" She barks into the phone before hanging up and dialing another number as she makes her way down the hall towards the bedroom.

"LAPD Dispatch."

"Karen, hi," Sharon says in a calmer tone as she shakes Andy's shoulder to wake him up, "It's Sharon."

"Sharon! I didn't…you're not on the call rotation tonight are you?"

"No, no, I'm calling for a favor," Sharon replies, letting out a small hmph as Andy continues to sleep on before holding the phone to her shoulder and calling out his name as she gives him a rough shake, "Andy!"

"Hmmm?" Andy hums, barely lifting his head from the pillow.

"Get. Up," Sharon demands before putting the phone back to her ear, "Could you tell me if any of the flags I have set up have been called in tonight…any time after about 530."

"You should have been called if there was a hit," Karen says as Sharon hears the clatter of keys on the keyboard in the background, "But let me double check real quick…"

"Thank you," Sharon murmurs before covering the mouthpiece as Andy sits up a little bit and rubs his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Andy mumbles.

"Emily isn't home, the phone is turned off, and there's no messages on the machine," Sharon explains to him as she grabs a pair of pajama pants out of the dresser and pulls them on before dropping her robe and tugging on a loose t-shirt.

"Sharon, I'm not finding any…hang on a second…" Karen trails off and the clacking returns, "I've got a call coming in from patrol…give me five minutes and let me call you back with more info."

"Ka…" Sharon sighs and drops the phone onto the bed as the call disconnects. She rubs her hand over her forehead and drops down onto the bench at the foot of the bed.

"Did you call dispatch?" Andy asks as he pulls on his own pajama pants and t-shirt.

"Yeah. Karen said she was just getting a call from patrol…She should have been home by now," Sharon explains, trying to keep the fear at bay, "The movie was a little after 8. I told her to call me if they went anywhere else."

"Who was she going out with?" Andy asks as he sits on the edge of the bed and scrubs his hands over his face.

"Brandon, Callie, and Tyler. Callie is in her ballet class and she met Brandon through her…both he and Tyler go to school with Callie at Regina," Sharon tells him, "I've met them both a couple times picking Emily up from some places."

"Where were they going?"

"In and Out and then the Chinese Theater…"

"And you don't think this is Emily just…testing the boundaries?" Andy asks.

"No," Sharon shakes her head and looks over her shoulder at him, "Not after the last couple times she got in trouble for breaking curfew."

"Should we call any of the other parents?"

"Not yet," Sharon shakes her head, "I want to see what Karen has…"

"Okay," Andy nods, rubbing his hands over his face with a soft groan, "I'm going to go make some coffee. Muster up enough energy to slam a couple doors later when she comes home."

Sharon reaches up and squeezes his hand as he walks by her and heads down the hall towards the kitchen. He returns a few minutes later with two mugs, handing her the purple one filled with tea before dropping down next to her as he takes a large gulp. The phone rings after a moment and Sharon reaches out to pick it up, quickly hitting the talk button.

"Hello?"

"I just got a call from patrol. They found Emily at Griffith Park, bystander called it in. She's alive but unconscious. EMS from Silver Lake is en route to pick her up," Karen explains.

"Oh god," Sharon says as she leans forward, her eyes immediately filling with tears.

"SAS is getting rolled out and I've noted to the officers on scene that this needs to be handled carefully."

"You didn't…" If Emily was going to be associated with either of them it was more beneficial that she be associated with Andy, but the longer they could keep either of them out of it the better.

"No, no names."

"Thanks Karen," Sharon replies before hanging up the phone and dropping it next to her leg, not flinching when it clatters to the floor. Andy takes the mug out of her hand as it begins to shake, "Patrol found her in Griffith Park. She's being taken to Silver Lake. They said she was unconscious…"

* * *

[TBC]


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, even the guest with concerned that I didn't put together an entire series of moments with the twins. I would have liked to, but they will have their moment later. I _do_ have longer ideas in plan for some subjects as far as this fic goes, and they are imperative to one of them so don't worry we will spend time with them :)

This is the final part for this "moment", but it's after effects will be mentioned as we continue on.

* * *

 _October 2001, pt.3_

Sharon sniffles and reaches up to brush her hair back from her face again. She had run out of the house without grabbing much of anything except a sweater to put on over her t-shirt and stuffing her feet into a pair of running shoes. She'd forgotten her purse even. Andy had stayed behind for a few moments longer to wait for their late night sitter to get there to stay with the kids. When she'd arrived at the hospital she'd been given a clip board to fill out while the doctors finished their initial assessment of Emily. She was currently fumbling through filling out the form, her mind scattered enough to make even the most simple questions difficult. Why couldn't she remember if Emily had any medication allergies? If only she hadn't forgotten her purse. There was a laminated piece of paper she kept in her wallet both sides lined with information about the kids; allergies, medications, doctor names and phone numbers, major hospitalizations, anything she would need to fill out a form like this.

Sharon's hand flips up again and she brushes her hair away before wiping her nose on the back of her hand. She didn't even have any tissues. She looks up as a hair tie appears in front of her nose, sighing softly when she sees Andy standing there looking only slightly more composed than she did with her purse clutched in his other hand. She offers him a grateful smile and takes the hair tie, pulling her hair back before reaching out for her purse as he sits down.

"Any news?"

"The doctors are still working with her," Sharon replies as she looks away from him, digging through her bag for her wallet, pulling out the paper tucked behind her checkbook and their insurance cards, "I haven't seen an officer yet."

She finishes filling out the forms and walks them over to the nurses station.

"Doctor Mason will be out in a few moments to talk to you," The nurse informs her as she starts to put the information into the computer in front of her. Sharon makes her way back over to where Andy was sitting and sinks back down into her seat, still not looking at him.

"I'll kill him if he laid a hand on her," Andy says in a calm, quiet voice, only loud enough for her to hear. They had both been thinking the same thing since the return call from Karen. Neither of them had voiced it though, not wanting to rush the reality if it was true. Sharon doesn't reply and looks over at him finally. She could see the barely concealed rage hidden beneath a strategically placed blanket of worry, his previous exhaustion only a twinkle in the whole scheme, "Hell I might kill him even if it wasn't him…"

"Flynn?" A doctor calls out from the doors back to the emergency room. Both Sharon and Andy jump up, making their way over to the doctor. The young woman leads them back to a more private area to talk, closing the curtain behind her

"How is she?" Sharon asks as she hikes her purse over her shoulder, "She's okay, right?"

"Emily is stable," The doctor tells them after closing her chart, "She's still unconscious, most likely from the blow to the back of her head. We're going to continue to monitor her for brain swelling, make sure things don't get more serious. She's been beaten up pretty badly, a lot of bruising, some cuts. We've stitched up what we could and bandaged the rest. Luckily it doesn't look like any _broken_ bones, but she has a couple of bruised ribs."

"Jesus Christ," Andy mumbles as he scrubs his hands over his face, his fists clenching on his forehead before they drop back to his side.

"What about…" Sharon asks, trailing off as a knot settles in her throat as tears well in her eyes.

"It doesn't look like she was sexually assaulted. But, we collected a kit and the associated evidence, it's ready for the police when they get here," The doctor assures them, both Sharon and Andy letting out large sighs of relief, "Let me show you to her room. She should be back from her CT scan."

"Thank you," Andy says, taking his wife's hand before they follow the doctor up to another floor and down the hall to Emily's room. The lights were on low and she was hooked up to a few monitors and various bags of IV fluids. Sharon gasps when she sees the state of her daughter, letting go of Andy's hand before rushing over to the bed. The makeup she had carefully put on earlier in the evening had been washed away, leaving bruises, swelling, and stitches in its wake. There was a strap of white gauze wrapped around Emily's head in stark contrast to her dark brown hair and her right eye was purple and practically swollen shut. Her left cheek matched in color, puffier than normal with a cut in the middle that had been delicately stitched together. Her top lip was split on the right side and being held together with two miniature butterfly closures.

There was a missed spot of dried blood just below her left nostril and noticing that small fact was Sharon's undoing. Bursting into tears, she sinks down on the edge of the thin hospital mattress and reaches out with a shaking hand to stroke the side of Emily's face, only brushing it gently with her fingertips. There were angry bruises developing around the girl's neck and on her arms, disappearing beneath the mint green hospital gown she had been dressed in, her clothes no doubt ruined and in an evidence bag. Sharon leans down and presses her lips to Emily's forehead as she wraps her fingers around her daughter's tiny hand, squeezing it hard.

"Oh my baby," She whispers quietly, lifting her other hand to brush a couple of stray strands of hair from Emily's face, "My darling, darling baby girl…"

Andy sinks down on the other side of the bed and brushes his hands over the bruises on her arms, easily able to make out ones that were hands that had gripped her too hard. Emily had inherited her mother's pale skin and bruised easily, but there was no mistaking what she had gone through earlier that evening. He carefully takes her hand in his and lifts it, pressing a kiss to her knuckles as he takes care not to disturb her IV.

"Like I mentioned," The doctor breaks in quietly, "We are keeping an eye on the swelling in her brain. I would expect it'll be a while before we can expect her to wake up. There will be police here soon, probably within the next half hour or so…they'll want to talk to you and definitely want to talk to Emily when she wakes up."

"We're with the LAPD," Andy mentions as he looks away from Emily and to the doctor, "Thank you though, for everything you've done for her."

"Of course," The doctor nods, "Press the call button if you need anything immediately, but nurses will still be in and out to check on things."

Andy nods and looks back at Emily before the doctor moves out of the room, leaving the three of them alone. Sharon sniffles and looks over at Andy, tears rolling down her cheeks. He reaches over Emily and grabs her hand.

"Who would do this to her? Why would someone do this to her?" Sharon asks in a thick, quiet voice, "She's…she's an honor student, a ballerina…she's in the church choir and she volunteers…She's…"

"A good person," Andy finishes. Sharon nods and sighs as she looks back at her daughter, reaching up to wipe the snot from her nose and tears from her cheeks. It was all they ever tried to impress on the kids, to be safe and to be kind.

"I remember the first time I had to take her to the hospital," Sharon says after a couple moments of silence starting to tell Andy a story, "She was…about fourteen months old. And for everything that I was paranoid about, I skipped some fundamental baby proofing. We were playing one Sunday after Mass and we had gone to breakfast afterwards. She'd absolutely made a mess of herself eating a stack of blueberry pancakes, so I had to give her a bath when we finally got home. On weekends when we had time I'd usually…let her run around naked for a little while. The girl was always trying to streak when she was little. Anyway, she kept running up to me and then running away when I would bend down to pick her up. It took me a couple tries to figure out she wanted me to chase her. We were still in the apartment at that point and it was tiny, but I chased her around, weaving her through the furniture and up and down the hall. On probably our…third trip back down the hallway and into the living room she got a second wind and just took off, but for some reason she looked back at me. And when I think about it I see it happening in slow motion, so as she looks back at me she manages to leap over a doll laying on the floor but just runs full speed into the corner of the coffee table. She gets knocked flat on her back and she is so…stunned that she just looks up at me with these wide eyes, not crying at all. Then I noticed the blood…"

"How bad was it?" Andy asks.

"About 10 stitches," Sharon replies, tearing her eyes away from Emily. She reaches up and indicates behind her ear, "Right about here. Needless to say, I bought table bumpers on the way home."

Andy sighs and stands from the bed. Instead of calming him, the story had struck a nerve deep inside of him. Sharon watches as he paces at the end of the bed a couple of times, watches as his control starts to snap, every hold he had on it starting to come undone. His little girl was hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. She sits up a little more, catching his wrist before he storms out of the room. He looks back, his eyes drawn to her hand curled around his wrist before he looks up at her, his brown eyes flaming.

"Think about what you're going to do and think about how that's going to help Emily," Sharon says as she looks him dead in the eye, her own eyes troubled and grey. Andy wrenches his wrist away and storms out of the room and she listens to the quick pace of his shoes against the quiet tile hallway. She looks up a moment later as a soft knock sounds on the door frame before two police officers step in. She recognized them as being from the SAS crew, but didn't recall their names off the top of her head. Sharon gets up off of the bed before extending her hand. She could tell both of the officers were slightly off put and confused by finding her there.

"Lieutenant O'Dwyer…" The female officer speaks, her tone slow and unsure as she reaches out to shake the woman's hand.

"It's just Mrs. Flynn tonight," Sharon says as she pulls back and shakes the male officer's hand, "You are…?"

"Oh, I am Detective Erin Davidson, and this is my partner, Detective Jake Hopkins," Detective Davidson explains, showing her badge clipped to her hip, "We're with SAS. Do you have a few moments to speak?"

"Of course, let's step out in the hall," Sharon says as she leads them back outside, closing the door most of the way behind her. She spends a while talking to the officers, telling them what she knew of Emily's plans for the evening and who she went out with, providing all of the information she could. She answers a few more general questions before a commotion begins down the hallway. Her eyes widen as Andy rounds the corner with Brandon in front of him.

Even from a distance Sharon could see that the boy had had a better evening, and deep down she knew not even an ounce of it was from Andy except maybe the red eyes and tear stains on his cheeks. His left eye was bruised and down the right side of his face were three distinct scrapes, like nails reaching out to scratch. She could even see a small patch of hair missing from his hairline. He'd had time to change into his pajamas, so there was no telling what had happened to his outfit from earlier. He'd had enough time to go home and change and get in bed while Emily was left lying in Griffith Park. Andy had put him in handcuffs and was giving him a not-so-gentle shove every few feet to keep him moving.

"Sergeant Flynn," Detective Davidson says as she puts her hand on her gun holster, flipping the strap on it, "Stop. This is not how we do things…"

"Out of my way detective," Andy growls as he shoves Brandon past them and into the room, gently tossing him into the door. The three other adults follow in behind him watching as he stops Brandon at the foot of Emily's bed with a rough grab, "Look at what you did to her."

"I…I…" Brandon stutters, his eyes downcast, not looking at Emily at all. Andy grabs his hair roughly and snaps his head back forcing his eyes up.

"LOOK! Look at what you did to her!" Andy yells, making everyone jump and the officers take a step forward, their grips tightening on their pistols.

"Andy!" Sharon snaps. She wasn't inclined to stop him, not after looking at Emily, but she wasn't going to let him make it any worse. He leans forward and speaks directly into Brandon's ear.

"I. Will. Make. You. Pay. For every moment of pain you put her through tonight," He whispers in a menacing tone, his hand tightening in the blonde hair.

"I didn't mean to…" Brandon says, his face crumpling.

"Sergeant Flynn. You need to stop," Detective Davidson cuts in and reaches out, releasing Andy's hand from Brandon before tugging the boy away. Andy holds his hands up, letting him go.

"Get him the hell out of here," He demands instead, flinging the keys for the cuffs towards Detective Hopkins.

"I will call," Sharon says to the officers, "When Emily wakes up, so you can gather her statement."

"Thank you," Detective Davidson nods, re-securing her weapon before walking out with Brandon and her partner.

"You're going to get in trouble for that," Sharon tells her husband a moment later, "Big trouble."

"I don't care if I get fired for it. He hurt her," Andy says, his eyes still locked on the doorway. The kid was lucky he was under the age of 18, otherwise he didn't know if he could promise that he would have been found by the LAPD. They both turn at the soft sound of shuffling in the bed, before Emily's quiet and broken tone cuts through the air in the room.

"Daddy?" She asks, her voice rough from a dry throat and her eyes barely open. Andy steps away from his spot at the end of the bed and walks around to Emily's side, resuming his seat from earlier and taking her hand in his.

"I'm right here, Monkey," Andy murmurs, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead. A slight, soft smile spreads over Emily's lips as her eyes slip closed again and she sinks back into sleep, "I'm right here."

* * *

[TBC]


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes:** Thanks for all of the reviews on the previous "moment". This one wraps up some open questions about what went on between Emily and Brandon and throws some extra flashbacks in as well (noted by italics). This will be a 2 part moment.

* * *

 _December 2001_

Sharon sighs as she sits in the waiting room at the therapist's office, Emily was in for her weekly session and had about 45 minutes left. There was a book open in her lap that she wasn't focusing on. Sharon found it hard to believe it was already December, her mind lost in thoughts of everything the last few months had thrown at them.

Emily had spent three days in the hospital before they released her to go home. Sharon had kept her at home for another week and a half before she sent her back to school. The nightmares had started on day four. Libby was a light sleeper and had woken her up, worrying the ear of her stuffed panda between her teeth as Emily's cries could be heard throughout the house. It had taken Sharon a few moments to wake Emily, Libby watching on from the doorway as she continued to chew on the panda's ear. After calming her eldest down and straightening out her blankets she'd pressed a kiss to her forehead and gone to pick Libby up. But before she could bend more than a couple inches to reach her, the little girl had darted past, scrambling up into her older sister's bed, wedging herself between Emily and the wall.

 _"Libby," Sharon sighs softly as she walks back over to the bed, her voice not dissuading Libby from shuffling under the blankets and giving Emily her panda as she curled up on her side. As long as it had taken Emily to warm up to Ricky when he was born, Libby had been Emily's from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Emily loved Drew and spent almost as much time with him as she did with Libby, but the two sisters just had a different bond. Every year Emily would tuck a new picture of her and Libby that had been taken over the summer into the back of her school planner, taped in carefully with some stylish duct tape to make sure it never got lost, and Libby excitedly told her friends at kindergarten about her older sister that was going to be a ballerina._

 _The little girl had been heartbroken when they had first gone to the hospital to see Emily after her attack. She couldn't understand why anyone would have wanted to hurt her sister, or anybody at all really. But Libby had expertly sniffed back her tears before climbing up in bed next to her big sister and giving her the flowers that Andy had taken them to buy before bringing them up. She'd burrowed into Emily's side and wrapped her arms around her, careful to not cause anymore pain, whispering promises of protection that only Emily could hear and that only a five year old could promise._

 _"Hmm?" Libby hums as she settles before looking up at her mother with wide innocent eyes, her auburn curls already sprawled out over the purple pillow under her head. Sharon opens her mouth to argue against her staying in her sister's bed before Emily interrupts her._

 _"She can stay," Emily mumbles, tossing her crumpled tissue onto her bedside table before sinking further down into the blankets and pillows and curling up on her side facing Libby, their noses practically touching, "You know how to scare away the monsters don't you?"_

 _"Mmhm!" Libby nods with a grin. Sharon leans down and presses a kiss to Emily's head before leaning over and kissing Libby as well. She turns out the lamp on Emily's bedside table before leaving the room and leaving the door cracked behind her._

It took three more nights of Emily waking up in terror and Libby climbing in bed with her before Sharon decided to look for a therapist for her eldest. There was only so much she could do to help and she wanted her to feel safe talking about what had happened that night and working through her feelings. Hell, after listen to Emily tell Detectives Davidson and Hopkins about what had happened that night _she_ felt like she needed to talk to someone. She felt like she wanted to vomit and bash Brandon's head in.

They went through the basics at first. He had picked her up, they met the other kids at dinner, ate, went to the movies, Emily had gotten Swedish Fish and a water while Brandon had ordered a popcorn and a Coke. He'd held her hand through the movie and shared his popcorn, occasionally whispering commentary into her ear and chuckling when she would jump. After the movie the four of them had walked out to where they had parked and Emily had bid Callie a good night, promising to see her the next afternoon at ballet before getting in Brandon's car.

 _"It took me a little bit to realize we were heading in the wrong direction," Emily admits in a quiet tone, sniffling softly. Sharon was sitting next to her bed and holding her hand, Andy was standing in the corner quietly fuming. Sharon wasn't sure he had stopped since he'd dragged Brandon in, "And so I asked where we were going and he said up by the observatory. I told him I was supposed to be home by 11, and he said it would be fine. I didn't want to get home late, a few times over the summer I came home after curfew and got grounded...I remember thinking I didn't want my parents to dislike him because he brought me home late..."_

 _"What happened next?" Detective Davidson prompts._

 _"We ended up at Griffith Park, it was...it was close to the observatory but this little...cliff face where people go to park and make out. I hadn't been there before, but a friend of mine had told me about it..." Emily clarifies, casting a quick glance at her father before focusing back on the officer in front of her, "We talked for a little bit and then we started making out. He…tasted weird."_

 _"Tasted weird?"_

 _"Yeah. It took me a while to place…it was alcohol. He tasted like alcohol," Emily says as her brow furrows, chewing at her thumbnail. She wasn't focusing on the officer anymore, her eyes were downcast towards the bed, lost in thought, "I accidentally grabbed my mom's drink last year when we had a barbecue at the house. I practically spat it across the pool…but…Brandon…I…that's what he tasted like, but it was also a little different…"_

 _"It's okay," Detective Davidson smiles assuringly._

 _"After I figured it out I pushed him away and confronted him. I was upset, mostly that he had been driving me around after drinking. I think I yelled. I mean being a cops kid…you kind of get that hammered into your head. I got out of the car and I went to call home…but the uh…the signal was bad, so I started walking back towards the main road. He must have gotten out right after I did because I didn't make it very far before he pushed me. I tripped over something…and when I hit the ground…" Emily gestures to her cheek, "I think I hit something else…it hurt. The phone flew out of my hand and I couldn't reach it. He turned me over and…he had me pinned down. He was so angry for some reason…I…I don't know what he was thinking, if he thought I was going to get him in trouble or something because he'd been drinking…He hit me a couple times, and grabbed my hair, and then I blacked out…I vaguely remember the officers that found me…more…just shapes and sounds…and then I woke up here."_

Brandon had been arrested on sexual battery and aggravated assault charges the day Emily was released from the hospital based on her statement and other evidence found in the park. His DNA had been matched to the scrapings from under Emily's fingernails two days later and sealed his fate. He had plead guilty in exchange for misdemeanor charges as an adult. The boy was sentenced to six months in county and restitution of $1500 to be paid to the Flynn's to cover the costs of Emily's immediate medical treatment and replace the damaged cell phone.

By the time Brandon was being marched off to jail Andy was being given his marching orders himself, and a promotion, surprisingly enough. After word had gotten around about Emily's attack Andy had been given more time off on top of the couple days he'd been granted after working the Croelick case. When he'd finally called in once they were settled at home and asked when he should plan on coming back his Commander had hemmed and hawed before telling him to come in on Friday at eleven, just to meet. During their meeting he'd told Andy he was one - lucky he wasn't being charged with kidnapping after pseudo arresting Brandon, and two - lucky he was getting to keep his promotion that had been decided on before news of his antics had made its way up the chain of command. But luck didn't cover everything and due to his behavior he was being suspended for three months with no pay.

 _"Andy_ _I swear..." Sharon sighs and looks up from her book at the sound of a slamming drawer from the closet. She stuffs a piece of paper into the book as she closes it, wanting to keep her place, "You got suspended from work, you don't have to go around the house slamming stuff all day. You've been suspended before."_

 _"Not for three months," Andy growls as he comes out into the bedroom dressed in his pajamas, making his way into the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed, another round of slamming drawers and cupboards in his wake._

 _"I don't know what you want me to say," Sharon says as she gets up from bed. She drops her book in her place and makes her way towards the bathroom, leaning in the doorway as she watches him angrily brush his teeth, "You did practically kidnap Brandon."_

 _"I didn't do anything that any other officer wouldn't have done if it was their kid," Andy snaps back, foamy spittle coating the mirror. He reaches up with a hand towel and wipes it off only to leave light, opaque streaks behind, "He beat the shit out of Emily. He's lucky I didn't throw him off a goddamn bridge with a cinder block tied to his feet."_

 _"Andy!"_

 _"What?!" Andy barks, turning on her with flaming eyes, "Have you seen her!?"_

 _"Yes, I have, and I wake up with her in the middle of the night when she's having a nightmare, and I took out the trash when she threw away the majority of that stupid five pound bag of Swedish Fish you got her for her birthday because she can't stand looking at them, let alone eat them," Sharon bites back, her eyes going from sympathetic to brazen in an instant, "You are not the only one who has been hurt in this situation. And I told you to think about what you were going to do. I told you and you did it anyway. And you have to deal with that. The fact that you ended up still getting your promotion is beyond me. Barring what has happened in the last week you have spent the last six months being a surly bastard 90% of the time. I know the cases are hard, but you used to be able to leave that at the door."_

 _"Do you know that the cases are hard? Do you?" Andy steps closer to her, pulling his entire height up to tower over her, "When was the last time you fished a seven year old out of the canal, rat?"_

 _The room goes silent at the crack of her hand across his face, shock registering on both of them. Sharon pulls her hand back and cradles it to her chest, before speaking in a quiet, lethal tone as she looks away from him, "You can sleep on the couch tonight."_

Once she'd been through an initial appointment with the therapist, the doctor had suggested seeing Emily once a week. Upon sensing the tension in the waiting room had asked Sharon and Andy to come in for at least a session as well, to talk to them about making sure that Emily was getting the best care that she could and evaluating the emotions that they were feeling as parents after the fact. After their argument in the bathroom and the therapy session Andy had not only stopped being snappy and surly, but had done a complete 180 and become almost entirely withdrawn most of the time. It worried Sharon, just as much as his previously brute nature had, but she figured he was working through the emotions of everything and gave him the room he needed.

Every week on Tuesday Sharon would take an early lunch and pick her daughter up for her appointment that had been scheduled over one of Emily's study halls. On the way to the appointment Sharon would check in and see how her day was going and on the way back to school she'd drive her through somewhere for lunch as a treat. Some weeks if the session seemed particularly hard on her daughter Sharon would suggest a stop at a deli along the way, keeping Emily for an extra half hour before returning her at the end of her lunch period. She enjoyed the time alone with her, both in general and as a check to make sure that everything was going okay.

While still finishing her classes Sharon had generally brought a textbook with her and read while she waited. But this week she had brought something different after taking her final exams the week before. The textbooks had been exchanged for a novel that she had been meaning to read and soft classical music floating out of the iPod she'd purchased for herself as a graduation present. She _was_ going to wait until after graduation to open it, but Ricky had begged her to let him set it up, finding the new gadget fascinating. He'd walked her through basic operating afterwards and she was finding it a nice addition at the office to get 'in the zone' when she had a stack of paperwork to get through.

Sharon glances at the tiny time reading on the top of the iPod's screen, noting that it was almost time for Emily to be done. She'd been lost in thought for close to an hour and had only managed to read two pages of her book. She sighs and turns off the music tucking both the book and music player into her tote bag before looking up when the door to the office opens, her eyes widening when she sees her husband, Andy's reaction taking on a similar tone as he pauses with his hand still on the doorknob.

"What are you doing here?" Sharon asks. They lived across town, and she hadn't forgotten anything at home that morning had she? Had Emily forgotten something and called her dad while she was still at school?

"Uh…" Andy mumbles, letting the door handle go as he looks down at the floor. His hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck in his classic nervous gesture before he takes a deep breath and looks back up at her with a soft shrug, "I go…here…for therapy."

* * *

[TBC]


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes:** Thanks to everyone for reviewing. Extra thanks to **Kadi219** for talking this out a bit with me - I decided to go with the bow at the end ;)

* * *

 _December 2001, pt. 2_

"What are you doing here?" Andy asks, "I thought Em's appointment was on Tuesday."

"It is, I had to reschedule because of a meeting I couldn't get out of yesterday," Sharon replies in a quiet tone. Hurt reflects it's way across Sharon's face as she looks at her husband, the two of them standing awkwardly in the empty waiting room. She opens her mouth to speak to only be interrupted by Emily bouncing in, smiling brightly when she sees Andy.

"Dad!" Emily exclaims, immediately wrapping her arms around Andy in a tight hug.

"Hey Monkey," Andy greets quietly as he hugs her back before pressing a kiss to her head. Emily steps back after a moment and looks up at her father curiously.

"What are you doing here?"

"I stopped by to drop something off that your mom needed for a meeting this afternoon," Andy says, thinking on his feet but offering Emily a reassuring smile, "I had to come downtown to run and errand anyway."

"Oh. You're so nice," Emily grins. Andy rolls his eyes and shrugs, a small smile forming on his lips as Sharon holds out the keys to her.

"Why don't you head out to the car?" Sharon suggests.

"Sure," Emily nods and takes the keys, leaning up to peck Andy on the cheek, "See you this afternoon."

"Bye honey," Andy says, waiting for Emily to leave before venturing a look at Sharon again.

"I..." She starts, "How..."

"Shar," Andy murmurs and she holds her hand up as she shakes her head.

"We'll talk about this later," Sharon says as she brushes past him on her way out of the office. Andy sighs and scratches the back of his head again before looking up and catching the therapist standing in the doorway to her inner office.

"Hey doc," Andy greets with a roll of his eyes, "Looks like we have something to talk about today."

"Oh we're never short of things to talk about, Andy," The doctor tells him as she steps back and lets him inside before closing the door behind him. Downstairs, Emily frowns as Sharon steps off of the elevator into the basement parking garage. They had parked almost directly next to the elevator bank, only two handicap spots between their car and the waiting area.

"What's wrong?" Emily asks as Sharon quickly brushes her hand over her cheek before lifting her head and making her way towards the car with a determined step.

"Nothing," Sharon shakes her head, offering Emily a smile that was weak around the edges, "What do you want for lunch today?"

"Taco Bell," Emily requests, "Please."

"Of course," Sharon nods as she takes the keys back from Emily and unlocks the car before getting in the driver's side. Emily walks around to the passenger side and climbs in, straightening out her uniform skirt before buckling up, "How was your appointment?"

"Fine," Emily shrugs with a small smile, "More of the usual."

Sharon reaches over and squeezes Emily's hand as they pull out of the parking garage. She drives her daughter through Taco Bell before dropping her back off at school, sitting outside long enough to watch her walk back inside. Emily turns around at the last moment and offers her mom a wave before disappearing beyond the heavy, dark, wood doors. Sharon turns the car back towards the Parker Center and parks in an empty spot, pausing in her seat after turning the engine off. She sinks into the broken in leather, digging her nails into the seat next to her as she tries to keep the tears and panic at bay. She sits in the quiet for a few moments, slowly regulating her breathing before she takes a final deep breath and unclenches. She drops her keys into her bag and grabs it off of the passenger seat floor before opening the door and slipping down. The lock button gets pressed and she runs her fingers through her hair as she makes her way inside, intent on finishing her day with as little extra distraction or disruption as possible.

Sharon shouldn't be surprised when Andy knocks on her office door a little over an hour later, but she is. He steps inside and she notices the visitors badge clipped to his shirt. Her eyes are drawn to the white plastic hanging off of his pocket, choosing to stare at it than look up at him.

"I can't believe I had to get this stupid thing," Andy grumbles slightly, flipping the plastic with his fingers before sighing with a shrug.

"You don't technically work here right now," Sharon reminds him, her eyes finally shifting up.

"Right."

"Did you need something?" Sharon asks cooly.

"Listen about the therapist…"

"No," Sharon cuts him off, her gaze hardening, "We are _not_ doing this here of all places."

"Sharon."

"No," She presses and offers him a long firm look before turning back to her paperwork, "I should be on time tonight. Don't let Emily forget it's her turn to make dinner. And tell her to let Drew help. He gets jealous when she asks Libby but doesn't ask him."

"That's it, you're just going to send me on my way?"

"You've waited this long to talk to me about it," Sharon reminds him with a hurt tone to her voice, "Is a few more hours suddenly going to kill you?"

"No," Andy gruffs, "I suppose not."

"I'll see you when I get home," Sharon offers, not looking up as he clears his throat before leaving and pulling the door shut behind himself. She sits for a moment, her pen not moving across the paper, waiting until her eyes clear before she resumes her task.

Sharon does manage to get out of the office on time that night, making it home a little before six. She drops her things in the entry way and puts her gun and badge up before walking into the kitchen, happy to find Emily standing at the stove with both Libby and Drew standing on stools next to her, helping with dinner. She greets the three of them before moving through to the dining room where Ricky was doing homework still. She rubs her hand up his back and brushes his hair from his eyes, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he bemoans his task.

"Only a couple more days until Christmas break," Sharon reminds him with a smile.

"I know," Ricky grumbles. She rubs his back again before leaving him to it. She makes her way down the hall to her bedroom, pausing when she sees Andy putting away the laundry.

"I'm almost done," He says after she stops in her tracks figuring she was hoping to sidestep him for a little while longer. He tucks a few more things away and shuts the drawer softly. He tucks the basket against his side and turns around to face her, surprised to find tears in her eyes as she looks at him. The heartbreak was evident on her face. If any of his behavior this year had hurt her, keeping the fact that he was seeing a therapist from her had hurt the most. And for a moment Andy found himself wondering when the last time he had seen her genuinely smile was.

"How could you not say anything?" Sharon asks with a thick tone as her eyes well full before spilling over, "When did I ever give you _any_ idea that you couldn't talk to me or tell me anything?"

"Never," Andy shakes his head. He sets the laundry basket down on the floor and sighs as he rubs the palms of his hands over his jeans, "I…When we went together, she approached me when you went to the bathroom…Said that she thought I might benefit from coming in by myself based on our session. Part of my suspension was having to sit a couple sessions, so I scheduled an appointment. I didn't like the first session…I wasn't going to go back, but…"

"But what?" Sharon asks after he trails off.

"You pulled away," Andy says.

" _I_ pulled away? You…" Sharon exclaims, her tone incredulous.

"I don't mean emotionally," Andy interrupts, knowing his comment had been misinterpreted to a degree, "There was one night when I reached out to touch you and you pulled away from me. I knew…I knew I had hurt you when we argued, but I thought we would bounce back, things would go back to normal…"

"Things weren't normal before we argued! They hadn't been for months," Her volume still slightly raised

"I know," Andy nods, "I know, and a lot of that is my fault. But after you pulled away…I knew I needed to do something for myself. So I went back. And things started to feel better…but by the time they started to feel better…I'd been hiding it."

"Why didn't you say anything in the first place?" Sharon quietly begs.

"Why don't most people say anything about being in therapy?" Andy shrugs, looking down at the floor, "I was embarrassed. And I didn't want you to worry about me. You'd already…you'd done and been through a lot already. I didn't need to pile it onto your plate."

"Andy, I love you, you're my husband," Sharon stresses as she lifts her hand to swipe at her face, "You don't pile anything on my plate."

"You should have graduated over the summer," Andy points out, "And you can't tell me that you put that off for shits and giggles. You put it off…"

"I put it off because our family needed me more than I needed to finish that degree," Sharon tells him, "If I had known how much trouble you were having…"

"Of course I was having trouble!" Andy replies, getting his own volume in, "My mom died, our dog died, work…never gets any easier! I wanted to drink. Every day. I wanted to just…fucking forget everything."

"Honey…" Sharon whispers.

"And then I started pushing you away whether I knew it or not. I just…" Andy lets out a long breath as he looks down at the floor, "I didn't know how to talk about it, until I started going and I felt guilty that I even had to go. Because I should be able to talk to you about this stuff and…and I am so tired of hurting you lately."

Sharon closes the space between them, wrapping her arms around Andy in a tight hug as she buries her face into his chest, bursting into tears. He wraps his arms back around her, cupping the back of her head in his palm as he cradles her close and tight. Her nails dig into his back as she clutches him close, sobs wracking her small frame. Andy shushes her quietly as he presses his lips to her hairline. He takes a deep inhale of the magnolia scent that was interwoven through her hair.

"Shhh…shhh," Andy murmurs quietly in her ear and wraps his arm tighter around her to support her weight. His head snaps up as he hears a quick knock on the door before Emily steps in.

"Dinn…oh…" She pauses mid step, her hand still raised in the air.

"What's up?" Andy asks.

"Uh, dinner is ready."

"Go ahead and feed yourselves," Andy whispers, "We'll be out soon."

"Okay…" Emily says slowly, her eyes locked on Sharon's shaking form before she backs out of the closet and heads back down the hall to the dining room.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" Ricky asks as he sets the last of the plates down before lifting Drew up into his booster seat, then Libby.

"Um…they said they'd come out later, that we could go ahead and eat," Emily replies as she fixes her brother and sister a plate before making her own.

"What do you mean they're coming out later?" Ricky continues to prod. Emily gives her brother a look that she could have only inherited from Sharon.

"She was crying," Emily says quietly as Drew and Libby chatter between each other, "Like _really_ crying."

"You don't think someone else died do you?" Ricky asks, shuffling his chair closer to Emily's.

"No," She shakes her head and starts to pick at her food, "I…when I got out of my therapy session earlier, Dad was in the waiting room with Mom. He said he dropped something off that she needed, but she had this look on her face like she was surprised to see him there."

"Maybe she was just expecting him to take it to the office," Ricky shrugs, "I don't know things have been weird between them lately. I mean after Nonna died was bad enough but…"

"Things got worse after I got attacked," Emily agrees with a sigh.

"Mimi I want more milk," Drew says as he holds his cup out.

"What do you say?" Emily replies as she grabs the tiny cup that had Batman decals printed on the outside.

"Please!" Drew offers her a charming grin and she rolls her eyes with a smile as she gets up to refill his cup. She brings the jug out and tops off Libby before setting it down on the table. Her mother hated when they would leave the milk out during dinner, but she didn't like getting up to refill the two growing five year olds' glasses every two seconds. She turns her attention back to Ricky and sighs softly as she taps her fork quietly against her plate.

"What?" Ricky asks with a full mouth.

"Don't be gross," Emily reprimands before softening, "I'm worried…"

"About Mom and Dad?"

"Yeah," She nods, "What if they're getting a divorce?"

"Mom would not get a divorce," Ricky retorts with a shake of his head as he cleans off his plate before loading it up again. If his parents were going to skip dinner he wasn't going to let the food go to waste.

"She's already been divorced, both of them have," Emily reminds him.

"Not going to happen, Em," Ricky shakes his head again, "We're stuck with this whole happy family until death do us part."

"Don't joke about that," Emily shoves her brother before focusing on her dinner. Once the four of them finish she takes on the task of boxing up the leftovers and putting everything away as Ricky loads the dishwasher with minimal moaning and whining. She gets down the package of Oreos from on top of the fridge and tugs them out of the sleeve, plucking out a short stack before putting them back. She gives one to Libby and one to Drew before sinking onto the couch with them as they watch tv, "What are we watching?"

"Fairly Oddparents," Libby answers, "Spongebob on next."

"Is that the one with the sponge who has a starfish for a friend? Works at a burger joint?"

"Yeah, his name's Spongebob," Drew says with an implied 'duh' in his tone.

"I'll take your cookie away."

"Nuh uh," Drew says before stuffing the whole thing in his mouth and starting to chew.

"Don't stuff the whole thing in your mouth dummy."

"N caw e unn," Drew mumbles with the mouth full of cookie before starting to cough and spit out brown-black chunks every where, but mostly on Ricky who had been sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

"Drew!" Ricky exclaims, trying to shake the crumbs from his hair. Emily leans over and starts to pat Drew heavily on the back as she puts her hand in front of his mouth for him to spit the rest of the cookie into. He spits the rest of the cookie out and coughs heartily, his eyes watering.

"Will you get him a glass of water or something?" Emily barks at Ricky, "Oreos in your hair isn't going to be any different than any of the other food you hoard in there."

Ricky hops up from the floor and goes into the kitchen, filling a glass with water before bringing it out and giving it to Emily. She holds it up to Drew's mouth and encourages him to take small sips until his coughing is under control. He sputters one last time before blinking heavily and panting.

"Okay?"

"Mmhm," Drew nods, taking another drink of the water before taking a deep breath and letting it out, "Can I have another cookie?"

"You…" Emily shakes her head and sighs, setting the glass down on the coffee table. She gives him one of her cookies, not letting go until he looks her in the eye, "Small bites."

"Promise," Drew nods. Emily stands and puts her hands on her hips, looking at the cookie crumbs covering the living room floor and that had been tracked towards the kitchen as Ricky had continued to shake them out. She goes to the hall closet and gets the vacuum out, plugging it in before starting to clean up the crumbs. She jumps a couple minutes later as she feels a hand on her shoulder, quickly turning the appliance off before turning around to find her mother standing behind her.

Sharon's face had been scrubbed clean of her makeup, but her eyes were still red rimmed and slightly puffy. Her hair was pulled back and twisted into a clip, and her work clothes had been exchanged for an oversized LAPD sweatshirt that she knew was actually her father's and a pair of black leggings. She'd stuffed her feet into a pair of fuzzy, warm LL Bean slippers that had been 'from' the kids the previous Christmas.

"What are you doing?"

"Vacuuming."

"Just because or…"

"Drew choked on an Oreo," Emily rolls her eyes, "Because he's five years old and doesn't know not to stuff the whole cookie in his mouth."

"She was gonna take it!" Drew yells back from the couch.

"Only cause you were doing that little duh voice that I swear to God you inherited from Dad."

"Don't take the Lord's name," Sharon reminds her daughter before leaning over the couch and looking at her son, "And be nicer to your sister."

"She asked me who Spongebob was. Who doesn't know who Spongebob is?"

"Teenagers, who don't have siblings 10 years younger than them," Emily mumbles under her breath as she puts the vacuum away before speaking at a normal volume as she turns to face her mother again, "There's leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry. I can heat you up something."

"I've got it," Sharon says.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asks in a low tone, a concerned look on her face.

"Everything is fine," Sharon reassures her, her smile weak but a warmth returning to her eyes that hadn't been there in a long time.

MCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMC

"Sharon…Sharon!" Sharon snaps out of her daze and finds her mother waving her hand at her frantically.

"Hmm?"

"Let's get a picture with you and Andy," Mary says. Sharon sighs and rolls her eyes with a smile as she steps closer to her husband, his hand easily falling around her waist.

"I don't think she took this many pictures when I graduated from Yale," Sharon comments as she looks up at Andy with a wide smile.

Her graduation ceremony had been just that afternoon and they were taking a few pictures on the lawn to commemorate the occasion before they headed to dinner. A few days before she'd questioned whether or not she was even going to walk in the ceremony let alone take pictures with her husband by her side. A few days before she'd worked herself up to go to Park City alone with the kids. But her parents had made the trip a little further west to attend the event with the entire family planning to head to the timeshare after the weekend to enjoy Christmas together. Nicole and Charlie were joining them, excited at the chance to hit the slopes and planning to do Christmas with the other side of their family when they got home.

"Well that's just Yale," Andy teases with a grin as he looks down at her, his eyes and demeanor lighter than the had been in months, "This is super big kid school."

"I still don't think it beats Yale," Sharon laughs. Andy leans down and captures her lips in a kiss, both of them smiling as all of the kids groan, their eye rolls palpable, "You think they'd be used to it now."

"Wouldn't you?" Andy laughs softly, "Got any plans later tonight?"

"Mmm, there's a rager at the Kappa house later I was planning to swing by…"

"Smart ass."

"Why? Do you have plans later?"

"Perhaps," Andy grins, "Your parents may have procured an extra hotel room for the kids to stay with them tonight."

"May have, hmm?"

"May have," Andy agrees, his grin widening, "Maybe I could meet you in the pool…bout 830, swim suits optional? Unless you _really_ wanted to go to that rager."

"You do pose a tempting offer," Sharon replies, her hand easily slipping down his tie and giving it a tug as she winks at him, "I'll be there."

It was going to take them a while to get completely back to normal. But they were definitely on track.

* * *

[TBC]


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes:** Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter! Keep letting me know what you're thinking :)

* * *

 _September 2002_

"But I don't want you to go!" Libby and Drew wail at the same time. If their behavior was anything to go on you would think that Sharon and Andy never spent any time away from them. Yet the only thing that Sharon could deduce from the wailing that had started as she leaned down to say goodbye to them was that they had a problem when _they_ weren't doing the leaving this time.

She and Andy hadn't had a chance to get away for their anniversary at the beginning of the summer and had decided to plan a weekend getaway to celebrate the missed event along with his birthday. They had taken Friday off of work and after picking up the kids from school and quickly packing they were headed out to drive their way up to Monterey. They'd managed to secure a deal on a beach front townhouse that was close to the Pebble Beach golf course and had a romantic weekend ahead of them. If only she could get the twins to let go of her so they could get on the road.

"Hey, hey, hey. What's with the tears?" Sharon whispers as she squats down in front of them, getting them to let go of her legs.

"I don't want you to go!" Drew states again, stomping his tiny foot.

"Daddy and I are just going away for the weekend," Sharon reiterates, "We'll be back on Sunday in time to tuck you in. Mimi and Ricky are going to be here and Aunt Andrea is going to come stay with you. Nicole and Charlie even said they'd come over on Saturday."

"We don't want to stay with Aunt Andrea," Libby whines, a new round of tears starting, "We wanna stay with youuuu."

"Honey," Sharon sighs softly and drops down to her knees, her legs aching from squatting down, "You know how Mommy tries to spend time with each of you on your own? Little one on one time?"

"Yeah," Libby sniffles, swiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"Well sometimes Mommy and Daddy need one on one time," Sharon says with a small smile, "And it's been a long, long time since I've been able to spend time with Daddy."

"You work together! You get to see him every day," Drew says with an indignant tone.

"It may surprise you but when we go to work we actually do work. You know Daddy and I don't actually work in the same department," Sharon says with a smile, "You guys will have a fun weekend. I promise. You won't even miss us."

"We always miss you," Drew mumbles.

"I miss you too," Sharon says softly, reaching out to stroke Drew's cheek, "Every time we're apart."

"Are you sure you have to go?" Libby whimpers softly.

"I do, my darling princess," Sharon nods, "But I will be thinking of you while we're gone. And I promise to bring you back something special from Monterey."

"Okay," Both of the twins agree softly.

"Big hug before we go?" Sharon requests, wrapping her arms around both of them as they fling themselves into her arms. She hugs them close and tight, pressing kisses to their foreheads, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Momma," Libby mumbles into Sharon's shoulder as Drew squeezes her a little tighter.

"Love you," He whispers.

"Now," Sharon says as she pulls back and lets them go, "Go find Dad and give him hugs and kisses, okay?"

The twins run off to go find Andy and Sharon pushes herself up from the floor before grabbing her bags and carrying them out to the car. Emily and Ricky were standing in the drive shooting hoops with each other, waiting for their parents to leave.

"Andrea should be here by six, it's a little after four now," Sharon says after shutting the hatch of the Land Cruiser and walking over to the kids. She catches the ball as it swishes through the net, holding onto it to keep their attention, "She's going to bring dinner with her. She'll take you to school in the morning and pick you up after you're done for the evening. You both have rides to practices?"

"Mmhm."

"Yep! Molly and I were thinking about going to the movies though, if that's alright."

"Sure, just make sure Andrea knows what's going on. Nicole and Charlie are supposed to be over on Saturday and we'll be home Sunday night. We'll probably leave after lunch so we can be home by the time you guys go to bed," Sharon explains, "I left the phone number for the condo we're staying at, and we'll both have our phones on us. Emergency numbers are on the fridge also."

"We can survive for a weekend without you," Emily says.

"Mmm, sure you can," Sharon smiles before holding the basketball out to her son, not letting go at first, "Be safe, be kind."

"We will."

"Promise," Ricky smiles, tugging the ball away from his mother. Andy comes out with Drew on his back and Libby on his hip. He sets the girl down before squatting down enough that Drew could drop down safely.

"Alright, I'm sure your mom did all of the usual stuff, but be good for Andrea. No parties. Be nice to your brother and sister," Andy says as he hugs and kisses each of the kids one last time.

"Are you saying that to them or us?" Ricky asks as he wipes off his cheek with a grimace.

"I'll let you decide," Andy grins before slapping the ball out of his hand. He dribbles a couple times before tossing it towards the hoop and sinking it with a delicate bounce off of the backboard. Libby and Drew both run after the ball and Ricky groans, knowing he wasn't going to get it back for a while. Sharon shakes her head and takes Andy's hand, pulling him towards the car.

"We love you. We'll call when we get there."

"Have a good trip!"

"Don't bring home any more siblings!" Emily waves with a cheeky grin.

"How did we raise such wicked children?" Sharon asks her husband as he opens her car door for her.

"Probably my fault," Andy smiles as he offers her a hand up before jogging around to the driver's side and getting in himself. He turns the engine over and pulls away from the garage, squeezing Sharon's hand as she waves at the kids one last time before they pull up the drive and away from the house. Sharon sighs as they make their way towards the highway, turning her attention to her husband and squeezing his hand, "Last chance to head to the airport and grab a flight to Dublin."

"What would people say when they find out you're trying to out occasion me," Sharon replies with a smile. Andy had been trying to talk her into a trip back to Dublin since they missed celebrating their anniversary. She put him off by reminding him that they couldn't afford such a shortly planned trip financially or use the excess time off it would take to make the trip worth while.

"That I'm romantic," Andy points out, "Not many guys think to take their wife back to where they went on their honeymoon for their anniversary."

"You are very romantic," Sharon smiles and lifts his hand to her mouth, pressing a kiss to his knuckles, "But need I remind you the last time you whisked me away to Europe I came home with a new pair of boots and twins."

"That didn't turn out so bad."

"Do I need to keep reminding you that she _stuck_ _her hand_ _inside_ _of me_ to deliver our son?" Sharon reminds with a glare.

"Well except for that part."

"Mmm," Sharon hums.

"Don't hum at me like that," Andy smarts back at her, "You know you could have..."

"What? I could have what?"

"I'm not going to say it," Andy shakes his head, "If there's something I've learned in ten years it's that I shouldn't say it."

"I thought we had a relationship of trust," Sharon goads him, "If you can't say this then what can you?"

"No, no, no, you don't get to goad me into it."

"Come on," Sharon says, stretching out the words, a grin spreading across her face. She was curious what had almost slipped out of his mouth. Andy knew she wasn't a prude but some times she'd accost him for his off color comments if they got too crude, "I'll give you complete amnesty until we get home on Sunday. Say whatever you want. Your balls are safe."

"I don't know, you've cut into them twice," Andy teases.

"Andy, come on," Sharon begs. Andy takes a deep breath before rolling his eyes as he breathes out his answer.

"Swallowed. You could have swallowed."

"Andrew!" Sharon smacks him hard on the arm, her cheeks immediately beginning to color.

"Ow! You said you weren't going to hurt me."

"I said your balls were safe," Sharon says, hitting him again with a laugh, "God you are…such a guy sometimes."

"Well you did marry a guy."

"Mmm, I guess I did," Sharon smiles as she leans her head back against the headrest, gazing at his profile as he drives, "And if I remember that particular evening correctly, which I do, swallowing _was_ my intention. I was not the one that pulled myself away and spent the night screwing me senseless."

"You might be right," Andy grins, chancing a glance at her. Sharon's smile widens and she winks at him before his eyes turn back to the road. Their drive to Monterey takes them up the coast, the wide expanse of the ocean outside the driver's window eventually turning into a sea of shimmering ebony as the sun dips below the horizon. They stop at an all night diner and pick up a to-go order for dinner before finishing their trip to the townhouse they had reserved.

Andy grabs their bags as Sharon carries their dinner. He punches in the code for the lockbox and takes the key out before unlocking the front door and letting his wife in. Sharon turns on some of the lights, finding the kitchen before setting their bags of food on the counter. She takes the time to set everything out and fill two glasses with water as Andy goes upstairs to put their bags in the bedroom. She looks up as she hears him coming down the stairs, smiling at him as he steps into the kitchen.

"Gourmet dinner for two," She presents as she pulls a stool over before climbing up.

"I hope you didn't slave away in the kitchen too long," Andy jokes as he takes a seat next to her, bumping her shoulder with his.

"You are so hilarious," Sharon deadpans and Andy grins, leaning over to kiss her.

"Happy anniversary," Andy murmurs. Sharon smiles and kisses him back, indulging for a moment before pulling away.

"Happy anniversary," Sharon replies as she swipes some lipstick from his mouth, "And a happy birthday to you in…three hours."

"You spoil me," Andy grins before turning to his food. The two of them eat dinner before clearing their trash away and heading upstairs. Sharon strips down to her tank top before climbing into bed with a small yawn as she watches Andy undress.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" She asks as she snuggles down into the covers.

"We could go to the Mission in the morning, maybe do some walking around in the afternoon? I made dinner reservations over on Cannery Row. There's some shopping and museums over there. The aquarium too," Andy suggests, "What do you want to do?"

"It's not my birthday tomorrow."

"Well in that case," Andy grins as he jumps onto the bed next to her, "Stay in bed all day and have sex."

"Mmm, I could definitely be talked into a nooner," Sharon laughs, "But this _is_ supposed to be a vacation."

"Yes, a vacation where we stay in bed all day."

"We didn't have to drive all the way here for that, could have stayed in LA," Sharon pouts.

"If we stayed in LA the kids might have been able to talk you into staying home," Andy growls as he presses a kiss to her pouting lips. Sharon laughs softly and kisses him back, wrapping her arms around him, "I needed my one on one time."

"Oh my god," Sharon laughs, flopping back onto the bed as she giggles, "I said the same thing to Libby and Drew before we left."

"Where do you think I heard it from?" Andy chuckles as he presses kisses to her neck, "I am under strict instructions to enjoy my 'one on one time with Mommy'. I think it was meant as a threat, like 'Enjoy it now you're never taking her away again'…I'm starting to think they like you more than they like me."

"They've always liked me more than you," Sharon teases as she pushes Andy onto his back and straddles his hips.

"Mmm, that's ok. The older ones think I'm the fun one," Andy grins as his hands easily slip up her sides.

"Oh you most definitely are," Sharon nods with a playful smile. She leans down and presses her lips to his, kissing him hungrily. Andy slips his hands under her tank top and easily pushes it up her torso. Their kiss breaks for a moment as he pulls it over her head. Sharon presses her chest to his, her nipples hard against the soft, worn in cotton of the Dodgers shirt he'd put on for bed.

"I've been married to you for ten years," Andy murmurs against her lips as his calloused fingers stroke gently over the soft, pale expanse of her back, "And I still don't know how you do that trick where you take off your bra but not your shirt."

"We have to maintain some mystery," Sharon smiles and kisses him again, moaning softly into his mouth as she grinds against him. She nibbles on his bottom lip before dragging her lips down along his jaw. She bites softly at the hard corner near his ear and nibbles on his ear lobe. Sitting up, Sharon flicks her hair over her left shoulder and braces her hands on Andy's pecs. She moans as his hands cup her breasts and his thumbs massage over her nipples. She drags her nails gently down his chest, grabbing the edge of his shirt before starting to tug it upwards insistently. He leans up enough that she can pull it off and drops back down to the pillows once it's discarded onto the floor.

Sharon strokes her fingers gently over his tattoo that he'd gotten on their honeymoon, tracing the lines softly. He'd added a second one when the twins were four months old putting a second ring of two twisting lines across from the original, filling them in this time. He'd cheekily told her when he got home that this better be it, he was running out of room. She'd thrown a throw pillow right in his face.

Andy grabs her hand and lifts it to his mouth, pressing soft kisses to her fingertips before biting playfully at her thumb. Sharon groans and grins back at him. She shifts her hips back and reaches between them to shove his boxers down. Her fingers wrap around his length, stroking slowly before sitting up on her knees a bit more and sinking down on him with a long moan. She sits still for a moment, adjusting, before she starts to rock her hips in a slow, tantalizing rhythm. Andy lets her set the pace before he moves with her, his hips thrusting upward at the perfect point.

They'd been having sex relatively regularly for 11 years, yet none of the passion ever waned. Even on nights when they didn't entirely sync they were still driven by passion, by love. There were never any feelings of it being a chore to please the other. Andy still got off on watching the arousal and desire bloom across her face and she loved the feel of being so close to him and the way he could always manage to light her nerve endings on fire.

Sharon's moans fill the quiet of the room as they move together, only accompanied by the muted sound of crashing waves outside. Andy moves into a sitting position, holding her close and kissing her hungrily as he guides her movement in their new position. She presses her hips forward more firmly as she finds a delicious friction that presses against her clit with each thrust. He sinks his teeth gently into her neck, biting at the soft skin teasingly. He could feel her muscles grasping for purchase as they pulsed around him, looking for that one twist to set them aflame with liquid desire.

Andy buries his fingers into her hair and holds her close as he pushes her onto her back and surges into her, not missing a beat in their union. He watches as her eyes widen and darken as he thrusts hard against her, his hips pounding roughly against hers. It's only a moment before they go unfocused and she arches roughly into him as her release spreads through her body. Her muscles clamp tight around him and her body trembles as she hoarsely cries his name out. Her undoing triggers his own, his balls draw tight against his body and he practically shouts her name as he cums hard. They both weakly move against each other, chasing the last vestiges of their release before they sink into the trashed sheets next to each other, panting heavily. Andy presses his forehead to her shoulder as his arm wraps around her torso in an effort to keep her close.

"Sure we can't just stay in bed tomorrow?" He asks in a breathless tone, smiling when she only offers him an equally breathless laugh in response.

* * *

[TBC]


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes:** Thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter and the few that were getting caught up with this fic! Always great to hear from you. Just another fun fluffy chapter before we dive back into anything too serious.

* * *

 _December 2002_

"There you are," Andy says as he steps into the bedroom, finding Sharon hunched over her toes armed with a brush of bright red lacquer. He leans down to kiss her before backing up with a slightly disgusted sound as he sees the mud mask spread all over her face.

"You would think you'd be used to this now," Sharon grins as he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. She turns her attention back to her toes as he starts to undress from his work clothes.

"Nope," Andy shakes his head again, "I don't kiss you with the goopy mask on."

"This isn't the goopy mask, it's the muddy one," Sharon corrects with a laugh.

"Semantics," Andy replies as he tugs his shirt over his head, "I don't even know why you use those things. You don't need it, you're gorgeous."

"Well thank you," Sharon replies, a bemused smile playing on her lips. Sometimes he could be so oblivious and it was adorable, "But trust me, you don't think I need them _because_ I use them."

"Semantics still," Andy laughs, "Where are the kids at?"

"Emily was staying late at ballet, Ricky is at a baseball sleepover," Sharon recounts as she continues to paint, "Nicole was going to pick Emily up and they were going to go to a movie before they came back here. Charlie stopped by to grab his suit and said he'd see us at the meet tomorrow. And the twins were reading when I came in here, but I'm betting they're watching tv now."

"Baseball already?" Andy asks as he tugs on a pair of sweatpants before dropping onto the edge of the bed.

"Mmm, some 'team bonding' night," Sharon tells him, "I will consider ourselves lucky if we don't get a call from someone's parents or the cops."

"They're 13."

"Exactly," Sharon replies with a pointed look, "They're actually teenagers now."

"Still," Andy argues as he reaches across the bed to grab the paperback book sitting next to Sharon, "What time is Charlie's meet tomorrow?"

"Three," Sharon tells him as she screws the cap onto the nail polish, blowing gently on her nails. She doesn't notice Andy's brow furrow as he mouths the title of the book, "We can leave a little later than normal, it's at North Hollywood."

"Something you need to tell me?" Andy asks as he holds the book up facing her with an arched eyebrow, "Baby names?"

Sharon rolls her eyes as she looks up and snatches the book out of his hand. She smacks him hard on the shoulder with it a couple times before stopping as he shrinks away.

"Ow! I was joking!"

"You're not funny, Andrew," Sharon rolls her eyes and tosses the book back next to him, "I was looking at names for the dog, twit."

"We have two special gifts down the hall that give me a reason to ask," Andy teases as he picks up the book again, leafing through the pages before dropping it back on the bed.

They had started discussion of getting another dog over the summer but had been waiting for the right point. They closer they got to the holidays they had planned for it to be one of the kids' Christmas presents. Sharon had recently found out through a friend that the animal shelter in Hollywood had just gotten in a litter of rescue puppies. She'd made an appointment for them to go in over the weekend, meet the puppies, and see if any of them would be a fit. It was going to be a couple weeks before they would be able to go home, just in time for the holidays.

Andy flops back to lay on his back with a heaving sigh, keeping his eyes on her, "Find anything?"

"A few. I think we'll get a better idea once we see them," Sharon rests her chin on her knees and offers him a small smile, "I'm excited. I hope we can get one…I miss having a dog around."

"Me too," Andy agrees.

"Think the kids will be excited?"

"Yeah, definitely," Andy nods. He reaches out his hand and strokes her ankle softly, smiling when she covers it with her own, "How was work?"

"I have _a_ promotion," Sharon says as her thumb gently slips under the gold chain around his wrist. It was one of the things she'd gotten him for his birthday and she was glad to see he enjoyed wearing it.

"Where was the first offer from?" Andy inquires. He knew she had put in for and interviewed for a few Captain positions that were open in the department. In his opinion any department was insane not to want her, but he was rational that her time in IA had tainted how people viewed her and her ambitions.

"Robbery Homicide, surprisingly," Sharon tells him, quietly gauging his reaction, "They're looking to have an intermediary lead for Robbery Special. Not managing that section of the division but running a team of officers."

"It'd be a good move, but a lot of kidnappings," Andy points out, "What's their offer?"

"Few extra vacation days, six percent raise, bigger office," Sharon lists, "Input in hiring."

"Not bad. What do you think of it?"

"It'd be a good move, but a lot of kidnappings," Sharon reiterates, "I don't know if I can do that day in and day out with the twins as young as they are..."

"When are you supposed to hear back from the other places you put in for?"

"End of business Monday," Sharon tells him, "I'd consider the move to Robbery Homicide if it was the only offer I got..."

"If it's the only offer you get you're quitting," Andy interrupts, "You deserve a Captain's promotion. You've put in enough blood, sweat, and tears since you started there."

"And just what would I do after I quit for not getting a promotion?" Sharon laughs.

"Whatever you want," Andy says, "Stay home with the kids, do some consulting…there's got to be plenty of companies out there that would want to hire you and actually appreciate what you do."

"I didn't realize you cared so much about how the LAPD treated me," Sharon comments as she looks lovingly at her husband.

"Of course I do," Andy replies and sits up, "You've put so much time and effort into everything that you've done there. And there are times they as an organization have treated you as less than ideal, and that's not to mention how the officers treat you."

"Pot, kettle," Sharon smiles, "I knew what I was getting into when I got a job there. And I have done a lot since I've been there, which is why I won't so readily abandon it. Least not yet."

"What do you want?" Andy asks with an arched eyebrow, "Before you retire I mean. What do you want out of this?"

"I want to make things better," Sharon answers, a soft smile on her lips, "I want to help the officers help people. All I've ever wanted. I'd like to spend a few years at the Assistant Chief level making that happen. I doubt at this point that I'd make it all the way to Chief…Commander's the highest any woman has made it so far. If I could get beyond that…I'd feel good."

"I think you could make it," Andy tells her with a bright smile, "To Chief."

"One person in my corner. That's all I need," Sharon smiles before leaning over and pressing her lips to his, laughing as his nose wrinkles and he pulls away after a moment.

"Momma," Libby calls out as she pushes her way into Sharon and Andy's room, "Hi Dada."

"Hi princess."

"Momma, Drew and I finished our book, we need the next one," Libby says as she tosses the books up onto the bed, "Do we have it?"

"No I don't think we do," Sharon says as she picks up the books that the twins had been reading. The two of them were miles ahead in their reading capability and Sharon could hardly keep them stocked with things to read, "They didn't have it the last time I went to the bookstore. I'll look when Daddy and I go run errands tomorrow."

"Can we come on errands?" Libby asks as she tries to pull herself up onto the bed.

"Not tomorrow, honey," Sharon shakes her head as she helps Libby up onto the bed, smiling as she climbs into Andy's lap, "We've got adult errands to run. Emmy and Nic are going to stay and watch you guys before we go to Charlie's swim meet."

"Ooh, I like hanging out with Emmy and Nic," Libby grins, "Do you think Nicole would braid my hair?"

"I bet she would if you asked extra nice," Sharon grins back.

"I will," Libby nods before her face gets serious, "Momma, you've got stuff all over your face."

"I do," Sharon laughs. She reaches up to touch the mask she had put on earlier, finding it dry and crackled as she glances at her alarm clock, "I need to wash this off. Why don't you take Daddy out to the living room and you and Drew can pick out a movie to watch tonight. The pizza should be here soon."

"You ordered pizza?" Andy asks before looking down at Libby, "Mom ordered pizza?"

"Mmhm!" Libby nods with a smile, "Drew talked her into it."

"Might have to give him a cookie," Andy grins as he stands up with Libby in his arms.

"Hey! I want a cookie," Libby frowns as she looks up at her father with a furrowed brow, the perfect twin of her mother in that moment. Sharon smiles as she watches them go before getting up from the bed and heading into the bathroom. She washes her face and dries off before grabbing a sweatshirt and heading out to the living room. Andy drops a kiss on her nose as he walks past with the pizza boxes, setting them down on the coffee table.

"Don't tell your brothers and sisters," Andy grins as he whispers to Drew, opening the lids to the boxes before dropping onto the edge of the couch. He gets two paper plates out and serves each of them a slice of pizza with a breadstick and some marinara sauce, encouraging them to sit on the floor. He makes Sharon a plate and hands it over to her before grabbing his own. She sinks down onto the couch next to him and sets her plate in her lap.

"What are we watching?"

"Shrek," Drew and Libby answer simultaneously as Andy starts the movie, their little eyes glued to the screen.

"Mmm a new one then," Sharon jokes quietly as she shoots Andy a grin. He laughs and rolls his eyes before starting to eat.

In the morning, Sharon hums quietly as she walks into the kitchen and finds Emily and Nicole standing at the stove together making breakfast. From the smell of it they were making French Toast. She fills a mug with coffee, adding a heavy dash of cream before kissing Nicole on the cheek and putting her hand on Emily's back.

"You two are early risers for getting back so late."

"It's the youths these days, Sharon," Nicole grins, "They don't need any sleep."

"Watch it, you're still a youth," Emily elbows her sister. Sharon smiles and grabs an already cooked piece of breakfast off of the plate next to the stovetop. She tears off a small chunk and pops it in her mouth.

"When are you and Dad leaving?"

"I need to wake him up here in a moment," Sharon comments as she looks at the clock on the wall, "You two will be okay with the twins?"

"We'll be fine," Emily assures her mother, "It's only a few hours."

"Ricky should be home by noon, we'll be back in time to get you guys and go to Charlie's swim meet. So will you make sure everyone is dressed and ready to go in case we don't have time to stop stop."

"Sure," Nicole nods, "What time?"

"2:30," Sharon tells them before finishing her piece of French toast and filling another mug. She carries both cups back to the bedroom and sets Andy's down on his side of the bed, sinking down onto the mattress next to him. She runs her fingers gently through his hair as she takes a sip of her own coffee, "My sleeping beauty."

"Ngh," Andy grunts as he feels the fingers in his hair and the mattress dipped low next to him, "Five more minutes."

"No five more minutes," Sharon murmurs softly, "We've had a lie in already. We need to get going soon if we're going to get to the shelter when they open."

"I don't need to shower do I?"

"No," Sharon shakes her head with a smile. She continues to run her fingers through his hair as he wakes up. After a few more moments he pushes himself up into a sitting position and she hands him his cup of coffee. Andy grunts his thanks before taking a long deep drink, "I'm going to start getting ready."

"Kay," Andy murmurs as she gets up from the edge of the bed. Sharon takes a drink of her own coffee before heading into their closet. She pulls out a pair of broken in jeans and a cable knit sweater, changing into them from her pajamas. She pulls on a pair of socks before grabbing her Uggs from their shelf and passing Andy on her way back into the bedroom.

Sharon takes a seat on the bench at the end of the bed and pulls her boots on, tucking her jeans into them before padding into the bathroom to wash her face and do something with her hair. She ends up putting on a light dusting of makeup and tying her hair up in a clean bun. She picks a simple pair of earrings and puts on her cuff bracelet before going back to the bedroom. Andy was sitting on the edge of the bed finishing his coffee, his eyes still slightly droopy with sleep.

"Want me to get you a to-go mug?" Sharon offers as she takes another sip of hers.

"Nah, one more I'll be good," Andy says as he pushes himself up. The two of them head down to the kitchen and Andy refills his cup, quickly downing the cooled black liquid. He kisses Emily on the head as he hugs her before doing the same with Nicole, "You guys have a good time last night?"

"Yeah," Nicole nods with a smile, "It was a good movie. I even got to see a little bit of Emily's rehearsal. I'll admit to not being able to wait to see the Nutcracker this year."

"Stoppp, you saw like five seconds."

"It was a great five seconds," Nicole responds, "You're going to kill it, Em."

"I bet she will," Andy smiles at his middle daughter.

"We'll have our phones if you need anything," Sharon says as she puts her mug into the dishwasher before grabbing the car keys.

"Go, we'll be fine," Emily shoos, flipping the spatula at her mother. Sharon rolls her eyes with a smile before telling the girls goodbye and tugging Andy out to the car. The two of them make their way to the shelter, easily finding a parking spot outside in their small lot before heading inside. Sharon talks to the receptionist as Andy looks around. There were some cats roaming around the counter tops and reception area and dogs could be heard barking in the background. He jumps slightly as a fat orange tabby jumps up onto the counter in front of him, letting out a small meow.

"Hi there," Andy murmurs as he reaches up to pet the cat. He ruffles his ears and scratches under his chin, smiling as he feels the cat start to purr and lean into his hand.

"Find a new friend?" Sharon asks as she steps over to him.

"I think so," Andy grins as he looks over at her, "Why didn't we ever get a cat?"

"Because we _accidentally_ got our dog," Sharon says wryly, "If it had been a cat in the back of the car when you picked us up at the airport we probably would have ended up with a cat."

"It would have jumped out of the car," Andy laughs and ruffles the cat's ears one last time before following Sharon and the shelter worker back to the room where they had the puppies sequestered. Neither of them notices the tabby following along behind them, his tail bobbing back and forth at a lackadaisical pace.

"So it will be a couple weeks before they are able to go home, and we've had some interest. I would suggest putting in an application today if you decide to go ahead with it."

"Oh my gosh, they're so tiny," Sharon whispers, slapping at Andy's arm blindly and cooing in a voice that was reserved for things under the age of three.

"From what we can tell they're German Shepherd Lab mixes," The shelter worker explains as Sharon leans over the side to ruffle the ears of the perky puppies, "They're about six or seven weeks old. We have an equal mix of males and females, a mix of different colorings though. They'll be up to date on shots and everything, but we will require that you schedule an appointment to have them neutered or spayed before you're able to bring them home."

"What are the adoption fees?" Andy asks.

"Two fifty."

"You would be worth it," Sharon coos at the dog currently getting her attention.

"You're welcome to sit and play with them for a while if you like."

"Yes, please," Sharon nods. The shelter worker opens up the pen that the puppies were running around in, letting Sharon and Andy in. The both of them take a seat on the floor, laughing as the puppies bound over and try to climb into their laps and up their bodies. It's only after a few minutes that a sorrow filled meow makes its way over the high pitched barks. Andy turns around and finds the tabby cat standing up on his hind legs against the fence of the pen, pressing his face through one of the tiny diamonds. The cat lets out another meow as he stares at Andy. He perks up when the man's hand reaches over and ruffles his ears.

"What are you doing in here?" Andy asks as he pets the affectionate animal.

"Oh, I see you've met Frank."

"Frank?" Andy asks.

"Yeah, he's been here for a couple months," The shelter worker tells him, "He's usually not so affectionate. Do you guys have any cats?"

"No," Andy shakes his head before leaning over a little further and picking Frank up with both hands bringing him into the pen. He plops him in his lap and continues to give him quite a thorough petting as Sharon continues to play with the dogs, "What are you thinking?"

"I want them all," Sharon laughs before indicating the puppy net to her that was gnawing away on a plastic chew toy. The dog was on the smaller side but was fluffy with a coat of deep caramel. Their muzzle and face was black, along with their tail and the tips of their floppy ears, "I like her the best."

"She's cute," Andy comments.

"She seems to be playful, but a bit calmer than the others," Sharon shares, "Once she's a bit older she'd probably be good for going on a run with, or running around the yard with the kids."

"I think she likes you," Andy notes as the rest of the puppies abandon them for another prospective family that had come to look at them. Sharon nods and smiles at the puppy, running her fingers through her coat and wiggling the toy she was chewing on, "Lily was always your dog."

"Lily was the family's dog," Sharon furrows her brow.

"I know, I don't mean that Lily didn't love all of us cause she did. But you were here favorite," Andy smiles, "I remember when you were pregnant with the twins and she would lay with you on the couch with her head on your stomach. She was always protective of you."

"Should have been after she ate all those shoes," Sharon smiles sadly.

"Do you want to put in an application?" Andy asks as Sharon picks up the dog and cuddles her close, her hand easily fitting between her ears as she pets her. She nods as she buries her nose into the dog's fur.

"Mmhm…what about your little friend?"

"My…oh," Andy smiles as he looks down at the tabby who was now belly up in his lap and half asleep, soft purrs still making their way out, "What would you think about getting a cat?"

"Mmm," Sharon hums, looking at the fat cat in her husband's lap, "I'm not scooping a litter box."

"That's what kids are for."

"Andy," Sharon laughs and Andy grins.

"The cat could get them off the trail of us getting a dog," Andy suggests, "They said he's been here a few months…"

"He is kind of cute…"

"And his name's Frank…you have to admit that's a pretty great cat name."

"Frank the cat," Sharon repeats, reaching over to give Frank a rub, "So we bring Frank home today and come back and get the dog in a few weeks?"

"I think that sounds fair," Andy nods, "Should we pick him up after the swim meet? We can get some stuff while we're out and that way he won't be alone when we first bring him home."

"Makes sense," Sharon smiles as she stops petting Frank and reaches up to cup Andy's cheek, pressing a soft kiss to his lips, "I promise not to tell the guys you have a cat."

* * *

[TBC]


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes:** So this chapter...this chapter is a behemoth as far as chapter sizes go for this series, but it begins to incorporate the main idea that got this whole story started. I hope you enjoy it, there will be at minimum a second part to go along with this. To reorient you to timelines and how old the kids are: Nicole 18, Emily 17, Charlie 16, Ricky 14, Twins 7 (Couple months shy of 8). We're about 2 years away from the events of the Closer starting (2005).

* * *

 _November 2003_

"College visits," Sharon sighs as she and Andy follow behind the tour group of parents and students. They were on a long weekend of college visits with the kids along with Emily's friend, Sam. The four older kids were participating in the tours while the other three were tagging along on a vacation. They had gotten into New Haven Thursday night and had headed straight to bed. Their tour at Yale was taking up most of the morning while Ricky kept an eye on the twins at the hotel and they had tickets to go to the Yale Harvard football game on the next day. After the game they were making the trip to Manchester to stay with Sharon's parents until their tour at UConn on Monday.

Nicole had already applied at the college as a long shot but hadn't been able to go on a tour yet. Emily promised Andy and Sharon she would take a look at other colleges, but was being hard headed about pursuing a career in dance, and that meant a college education in it as well. They knew she had the chops, but they were worried as parents usually were. Sam was interested in attending but wanted to check out the area and see if it was worth the move across the country. Charlie was along for the ride as well, still trying to figure out what exactly he wanted to do.

"We have our practice kid this year…then we get do two of them at once. And then we get a bit of a break and we get to graduate one from both…And then we don't have to worry for about 7 years."

"You're not helping," Sharon replies wryly as she looks at her husband.

"I will agree that it does seem like yesterday I was asking you to babysit her for half an hour while I interviewed a suspect," Andy smiles, "Last 18 years have been a wild ride."

"Oh yes they have," Sharon nods in agreement. Andy smiles as he hears Nicole ask a question to the tour guide about their finance program.

"I can't believe she wants to do finance," Andy comments, "It's great, but just kind of came out of nowhere."

"She really liked that accounting course that she took last year. She's always been good with math," Sharon comments, "Money's always going to be around."

"True. So a dancer, an accountant," Andy ticks off, "Charlie?"

"Mmm…I think he'll end up in poli-sci or maybe engineering."

"Ricky?"

"Computers definitely," Sharon says with a smile, "What do you think?"

"I could see Charlie doing engineering…maybe something like architecture. Definitely computers with Ricky."

"Early guess, what about the twins?"

"Is lifelong nerd an option?" Andy asks. Sharon scoffs and elbows him in the ribs.

"Did you just call our children nerds?" She glares at him.

"Did I?"

"Yes you did," Sharon responds dryly, "So Libby and Drew don't play sports…that doesn't mean…"

"There's nothing wrong with it," Andy backtracks slightly, "I'm not saying there is. It's just different than it was with the others. You did school and I did sports. I'm hardly the place to go for advice on algebra."

"They're seven, they don't do algebra."

"You know what I mean."

"I do," Sharon nods, "And just because they're geared more towards academics, at least for right now, doesn't mean you're going to connect less with them. You play with them, you watch movies with them, and you're not a moron Andy, you can help them sometimes. But you have given each and every one of our kids the same attention and love that they deserve no matter what they do. You're a great father."

"You're making me blush," Andy drawls with a slight grin.

"I'm just saying, yes it is going to be different with the twins, but we're going to do the same thing we've always done. Love them."

"You're right," Andy nods.

"I do love hearing you say that," Sharon smiles before pausing as she hears her phone ring. She digs it out of her purse and looks at the display before putting her hand over the talk button. They had left Andy's phone with Ricky and the twins and his name was blinking up at her, "It's Ricky. I'll catch up in a second."

"Okay," Andy nods continuing to follow the group as Sharon answers the phone.

"Ricky?"

"Hi mommy!" Drew's voice echoes down the line.

"Hi sweetie, is everything okay?"

"Ricky has a nose bleed," Drew explains.

"Drew! I told you not to call her," Sharon hears Ricky call out in the background before a slight tussle over the phone.

"Don't push me!" Drew yells before Ricky's voice comes in clearer over the phone.

"Hi mom," He mumbles, his voice slightly nasally.

"Don't push your brother," Sharon reprimands before softening her tone, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Ricky sighs, "My nose just started bleeding a little bit ago. I'm fine."

"'Just started'?"

"Yeah, it's probably just the dry air. It's flipping freezing here," Ricky reasons, "I'm fine really."

"Okay," Sharon responds skeptically, "Try not to get blood on anything the hotel owns. Call me if it doesn't stop soon. I'll call you when we leave and we'll come pick the three of you up for lunch okay?"

"Sure."

"Love you," Sharon murmurs. Ricky replies in the same before hanging up the phone. Sharon puts the phone back in her purse before going to catch up to the group.

"Everything okay?" Andy asks as she falls back into step next to him.

"Yeah, Ricky has a nose bleed and Drew thought I should know," Sharon rolls her eyes with a small smile and a shrug. They finish up the tour and the kids ask the rest of their questions before they head back to the hotel. The kids immediately head towards their rooms to freshen up after their long morning, "Ten minutes and then we're leaving."

"Okay!" Andy opens the door to their room and lets Sharon in before following behind her. The twins were sitting on their bed watching TV as Ricky was laid out against the headboard of Sharon and Andy's bed with tissue stuffed in his nose.

"Ricky, what are you still doing with tissue in your nose?" Sharon accosts softly as she sets her purse down and walks over to the bed, sitting down on the edge. She notices the small trash can filled with bloody tissues before reaching up to pry the ones in his nose out gently.

"Oh. I kinda forgot it was in there," Ricky says with a wrinkle of his nose as she pulls them out before depositing them in the trash can.

"How long did this go on for?"

"I don't know…half hour, forty five minutes?" Ricky shrugs, "It's a nose bleed, Mom."

"I'm allowed to be concerned about you bleeding," Sharon tells him with a sharp look before tipping his head back and looking in his nose.

"Oh my god are you actually looking in my nose right now?"

"Honey, will you grab that mini flashlight out of my purse?" Sharon asks Andy, thanking him when he holds it out to her before clicking it on and shining it up Ricky's nostrils.

" _Mom_."

"We'll stop at Walgreens while we're out and pick up some vaseline…" Sharon says as she lets his chin out of her grasp and turns the flashlight off, "Hopefully that should help keep your nose from getting too dry. Go change your shirt so we can go to lunch."

Ricky rolls his eyes and gets off of the bed before heading to the room that he was sharing with Charlie. Sharon shakes her head with her own roll of her eyes as she looks at Andy. She narrows her eyes as he gives her a shit eating grin.

"Why did I ever decide to have kids with you?" She mutters as she throws a pillow at him playfully before turning her attention to the twins, "Did you guys have a good morning with Ricky?"

"Mmhm," Libby and Drew nod in tandem, tearing their eyes away from the tv screen, "He got us snack cakes from the vending machine."

"He did? That was nice of him," Sharon smiles and wraps her arms around Libby as she squirms off the bed, "What kind did you get?"

"Chocolate, duh."

"How could I be so silly?" Sharon laughs and presses a kiss to her daughter's head, "Why don't you two go get your shoes on so we can go get lunch?"

"Where are we going?" Drew asks as he climbs down off the bed himself before starting the search for his shoes.

"I don't know yet, what sounds good to you?" Sharon asks as she lets out a small yawn, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Pizza!" Drew calls out as he slips under the bed to grab his sneaker before sitting on the floor to pull it onto his foot. He pushes himself up and wanders around looking for its mate.

"I don't know how they manage to lose their shoes so fast," Andy comments.

"Gift of childhood," Sharon replies, smiling up at him, "How does pizza sound?"

"Works for me. Probably the easiest to do."

"Definitely," Sharon agrees. Pizza was the most customizable, but cheapest option when it came to taking out all of the kids. Ricky and Charlie could put away massive amounts of food while Nicole was on a vegetarian kick and Emily always wanted hot peppers which only she and Andy would eat. This was all on top of the twins going through a picky eating phase. Sharon pushes herself up from the bed and grabs Drew's missing shoe from behind her, handing it to the boy, "I'm going to go get the others."

"I will find our last missing shoe," Andy comments as he notices Libby still wandering around looking for a shoe. Sharon presses a kiss to his cheek before heading into the hallway only hearing the beginning of his comment to the twins, "You know if you would just put them by the door…"

Sharon laughs softly as the door clicks behind her before she heads to the next room over, knocking loudly on the door before yelling in, "Let's go!"

She repeats the same thing with the girls' room, jumping back slightly as the door is immediately yanked open and the three of them come out.

"Where's everyone else?" Emily asks.

"Your dad was helping Libby find her shoe and I just knocked on the boys."

"And they complain _we_ take a long time," Nicole rolls her eyes with a laugh.

After polishing off three large pizzas and two orders of breadsticks the family spends most of the afternoon wandering around New Haven and letting the older kids get a feel for what the town had to offer. They stop by the school bookstore and the kids head to the clothing section to each pick out a t-shirt. Andy wanders around next to his wife as she grimaces at book prices, grabbing a small stuffed bulldog off the shelf before wiggling it in her direction.

"Look familiar?"

"Oh my god I can't believe they still make these," Sharon laughs as she takes the bulldog from him, "How long did Emily have hers?"

"Uh, she was…seven," Andy says after thinking for a moment, "The thing literally fell apart when…"

"…when Ricky snapped it out of her hand," Sharon nods, "Now I remember."

"She sobbed for two days straight."

"I distinctly remember through her tears hearing 'Why did you get me a brother? I never wanted a brother, and he ruined my life!'" Sharon laughs as she puts the bulldog back on the shelf, "How could we ever think she would go into anything besides the arts with that kind of flair for the dramatic?"

"How could we indeed?" Andy grins, looking past her as the kids start to trickle back over with their selections. Libby holds up a purple one to show him and her mother.

"Look, it's purple!"

"It is! Your favorite color, you're so lucky!" Sharon smiles and takes the shirt from her before holding her hand out for the navy one that Drew was holding. She checks the sizes before draping them over her forearm and running her fingers through her son's hair, "You didn't want the green one?"

"No," Drew shakes his head, "I like the blue one."

"Okay," Sharon smiles and looks up as Ricky holds out a tag to her, already wearing the sweatshirt underneath the jacket he had brought with for the trip, "A sweatshirt?"

"It's freezing here, I'm cold," Ricky shrugs and wraps his sleeves tighter around his body.

"Honey, are you sure you're okay?" Sharon asks with a worried furrow in her brow. She reaches up and feels under his chin after checking his forehead.

"I'm fine, Mom," Ricky says in exasperation, pulling away, "There's like a thirty degree differential between here and LA, Jesus. It's dry and cold."

"Richard," Andy narrows his eyes at his son and Ricky sighs with a roll of his eyes.

"Sorry. I'm fine, Mom, I promise."

"Okay, okay. I'll drop it," Sharon holds up her hands, "Why don't you guys give me your shirts and you can walk over to Subway with Dad? We can take them back to the hotel and maybe order a movie on Pay-Per-View?"

"Can we get chips and cookies?" Charlie asks.

"Sure," Sharon nods, taking his shirt, "See if we can get a price break on a dozen for the cookies, and get regular sized sandwiches for Drew and Lib."

"Aye aye, Captain," Charlie salutes with a grin that was eerily similar to his father's. Andy laughs and nudges the kids toward the exit.

"Come on, guys."

The family ends up taking their dinner back to the hotel and piling onto the beds in Sharon and Andy's room, deciding to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. They send the older ones off to bed after the movie, reminding them that they would be up early in the morning to go to the football game before getting the twins ready for bed and tucking them into the other queen size in the room.

Sharon sighs as she sinks into the mattress and turns the last light in the room off, looking across at the twins who were already fast asleep. She watches them for a moment before feeling the bed dip next to her. She turns her attention to Andy and smiles tiredly at him before humming as he presses a kiss to her mouth.

"I'm worried about Ricky," She says quietly as she shifts to lay on her side facing him, letting her head rest against her pillow.

"He's fine, Shar. Worst thing is it's a cold and he's being a macho teenage boy about it."

"His nose bled for 45 minutes, that's not normal."

"Rick's always been a bleeder," Andy points out, "He's fine."

Sharon lets out a small 'hmph' as she drops onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. She blinks a couple times before letting out a soft groan and sitting up again, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. Andy sits up further on his elbow and arches his eyebrow.

"You're not going to check on him are you?"

"No!" Sharon glares at him, "I keep forgetting to take these stupid contacts out."

"I don't know why you don't just wear the glasses," Andy says as she gets up to go to the bathroom, "They're hot."

"They make me look old," Sharon grumbles and wanders into the bathroom, wincing when she turns the overhead light on. She takes the contacts out and puts them into the container in her makeup bag before turning the light off again and making her way back to bed. She snuggles closer as she feels Andy's arm snake around her waist before his head burrows its way into the crook of her neck.

"They don't make you look old, they're sexy," He mumbles lazily as he presses a kiss to the soft skin beneath his lips.

"You think so?"

"Definitely," Andy whispers, "I don't know why you think it's such a big deal. Your mom wears glasses."

"That's not a plus in the glasses column. And she's worn them since she was ten, I thought I'd beaten it."

"Well I like them," Andy replies, pressing a kiss to her shoulder before settling in. Sharon turns her head and presses her lips to his forehead as she covers his arm with hers.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Andy groans in the morning when the alarm starts to sound. He reaches over and slaps it off before scrubbing his hand over his face. Sharon burrows closer for a moment before he feels a heavier breath against his neck and then her lips. The two lay in silence for a moment until the shuffling from the twins' bed gets louder. Andy rolls out of bed and stretches before going over to the tiny coffee pot in the room and starting a pot. He takes care of getting the twins started for the day as Sharon calls the other rooms to wake the kids up.

The nine of them manage to get ready relatively quickly before heading to the football stadium. They meet some of Sharon's friends from college who had secured tailgating spaces for the special day. They all had kids around the same age and easily spent the morning catching up over a sizable spread. As the game draws nearer they make their way into the stadium and to the row of seats they had managed to secure together. Andy gets the kids settled with snacks and drinks before dropping onto the bench next to Sharon. During the game Sharon notices Ricky fading a bit, before starting to rally a bit during the last quarter.

The Bulldogs end up going down to the Crimson by a sizable score but the group leaves in good spirits, glad to have been able to take in the game together. They make their way back to the hotel and pack up their things before hitting the road to go to Bill and Mary's, arriving at the house in Manchester later in the afternoon. They unleash the kids on the house as they get their bags out of the back and carry them inside. Sharon smiles as she sees the kids happily greeting their grandparents, loving that they enjoyed coming out to visit just as much as her parents enjoyed having them.

"Emily, did you make sure Sam knows everyone?"

"Oh! Nana, Grandpa, this is my friend, Sam. She's looking at schools with us. I think you've met her before…it's probably been a while though," Emily introduces the blue eyed brunette standing behind her with a small shrug and a smile. Sam was about the same height as Emily with shoulder length, wavy chocolate brown hair that had a light smattering of highlights through it. Her skin was a couple of shades tanner than the pale tone that Emily maintained and her eyes were a bright clear blue. The two had been friends since they were little when both of them were in the same preschool class. Sam had gone to St. Joseph's until they were in middle school, transferring to another catholic school for high school after her family had moved into the Valley. By that point their friendship had strong roots and the girls still made every effort to see each other and talked on the phone constantly.

"Sam, it's nice to see you again," Mary greets, "It's been a few years. You've grown a lot."

"It has," Sam nods with a smile, "Thank you for having me in your home, it's lovely."

"Well thank you, I'm sure Emily could give you the grand tour after dinner and maybe even take you down to the stables. The horses are being taken to their winter boarding next week."

"Oh yeah, the neighbors have horses," Emily explains to Sam, "They've let us come over and ride when we've been out to visit."

"That sounds like fun," Sam smiles.

"Why don't you all go upstairs and clean up for dinner? I'm sure you've had a long day. It'll be about another hour before we sit down. Emily, Grandpa put up a second cot in your room for Sam to use."

"Perfect," Emily smiles and grabs her bag and Sam's before leading her upstairs. The rest of the kids grab their bags and follow suit, heading upstairs to the bedrooms they'd been assigned. Libby sighs as she rubs her eye, looking up at Sharon.

"Momma, can we lay down for a little bit? I'm tired."

"Me too," Drew echoes with a yawn

"Of course honey," Sharon runs her fingers through Libby's hair and presses a kiss to her forehead, "I'll come get you guys when dinner is ready."

"Okay," Libby nods and drags her backpack behind her as she heads upstairs, Drew trailing along side her.

"Those two are a trip," Mary laughs softly before hugging her daughter, "They are too cute."

"Yes they are," Sharon agrees as she squeezes her mom close before pulling away, "Worse - they know it."

"How was your tour and the game?"

"The tour was good, the kids liked it," Sharon replies as she takes a seat at the kitchen table, "I told you that Nicole has applied and I'm curious to see if any of the other three will apply at all. It's just been a whirlwind taking them to visit places the last year or so."

"I remember when you were applying for college," Bill comments, "You had your heart set on Yale."

"Of course I did," Sharon grins, "I was a Daddy's girl. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I could."

"I feel like it's that second item that kept you out of Wellesley," Bill smiles back, "Do you guys want anything to drink? Your mom just put on a pot of coffee before you arrived."

"I'll take a cup," Andy accepts as he sits down next to Sharon while his wife shakes her head at the offer.

"I am cutting back. I'll take tea though if you have it."

"The kettle should still be warm," Mary tells Bill as he sets the coffee pot on the table with some mugs. She slides a cup across the table to Sharon before Bill fills her cup with the remaining hot water from the tea kettle. Sharon leafs through the teabags in the container in the middle of the table, plucking one out before dunking the bag into the cup.

Once dinner is ready Sharon makes her way upstairs to get the kids, calling out to the older ones before going into the twins' room and waking them up. She hears feet start to thunk across the hall floor and down the stairs as she runs her fingers gently through Drew's hair.

"Drew, Lib…dinner's ready, time to get up."

"Mmm, five more minutes, Momma."

"Nice try, mister," Sharon smiles, "Am I going to have to tickle you?"

"No. I'll get up, I'll get up…" Drew mumbles before yawning and snuggling back into bed, "I'm not getting up."

Sharon laughs and reaches out, starting to tickle both of them. Soon both of them are laughing and squirming on the mattress. She pulls her hands back and stands up.

"Come on, let's go," Sharon tells them, waiting for them to get out of bed before following them downstairs. She frowns when she doesn't see Emily and Sam at the table, "Where are the girls?"

"Em's door was closed," Nicole says, "I assumed they were taking a nap."

"I'll go get them. Will you get them a plate?" Sharon says to Andy as she gestures to the twins before going upstairs. She makes her way down the hall to Emily's room, knocking on the door before walking in without waiting for a response.

"Emily? Sam? What are you two doing? Dinner is…" Sharon trails off as she steps into Emily's room, finding the two of them locked in a heated kiss. The girls immediately pull themselves away from the other and their eyes divert, looking frantically around the room as neither of them dares to look at Sharon, "Oh! Uh…dinner is ready."

"We'll be right down," Emily replies quickly and Sharon retreats, closing the door behind herself. She puts her hand to her chest and takes a deep breath before heading back downstairs. Andy looks up from setting plates in front of the twins, arching his eyebrow at Sharon's shellshocked look.

"Girls coming down?"

"Yes!" Sharon says, her volume a bit loud. She swallows and nods before taking a seat, "Sorry, yeah, they'll be right down."

Emily and Sam wander into the dining room a moment later, both of them red around the edges. Emily takes a seat next to her father as Sam sits across from her. They both quietly load their plates as the rest of the family converses. Sam jumps part way through dinner as she feels a foot connect with her shin. She looks up across the table and finds Emily staring at her with wide brown eyes. She mouths an apology and Sam rolls her eyes, shaking her head with a small smile.

After dinner the kids help clear the table and Emily grabs a stack of plates from Charlie, offering to take them into the kitchen. Sharon was standing at the island in the middle of the kitchen boxing up left overs as Emily brings the plates in. She sets the stack down on the counter and rinses everything off before loading the dishwasher. She clicks the door shut before walking over to the island and resting her forearms against the granite surface.

"So…" Emily breathes out, "Maybe we could…take a walk?"

"Sure," Sharon nods, not looking up from her task, "Let me finish and then we can go."

"Okay," Emily nods, straightening up a little bit before heading out to the entry way. She shrugs her own coat on and grabs her mother's, draping it over her arm as she stuffs her feet into the boots she had worn for their vacation. She shifts her weight back and forth as she waits, holding Sharon's coat out to her as she comes around the corner.

"Thank you," Sharon smiles softly, wrapping herself in the warm fabric before pulling on her own shoes, "Em and I are going out for a walk! We'll be back."

"Which way do you want to go?" Emily asks as they step out onto the porch.

"Let's just walk around the block," Sharon offers, "It's getting chilly out."

"Okay," Emily nods. The two of them step off the porch and make their way down to the sidewalk before starting to walk in silent tandem with each other. Only after they're a bit of a distance away from the house does Emily finally speak, "I…uh…don't really know how to start this conversation. Which is probably why I've been avoiding saying anything for a while…"

"How long have you two been…?"

"Six months?" Emily shrugs, "I don't know. It just kind of happened. Sam was…she is the one that I can talk to about things. After I stopped going to therapy she's always been around to listen when maybe I can't talk to you or Dad. And we were talking one weekend and we were saying a lot of the same things about frustrations we were having about relationships and things…and she kissed me. And I liked it. And she liked it."

"Does this have anything to do with what happened with Brandon?"

"Yes and no?" Emily replies with a curious inflection, "Did he turn me gay by attacking me? No. But I think it helped me evaluate a bit. I've never been _sure,_ you know?"

"I can't say that I do," Sharon laughs softly. Emily lets out a small laugh herself.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything from you," She explains as they turn the corner, "It was just easy to…not make it a thing."

"You know your dad and I don't care about who you date right?" Sharon asks, looking over at her daughter, "We just want you guys to be happy and be safe."

"I know," Emily nods.

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah. Being with Sam, like dating her, makes me happy."

"And you're being safe?"

" _Mom!_ " Emily blushes furiously.

"It's my prerogative to ask," Sharon points out, "And I know we didn't exactly cover same sex…"

"No, no, no, no, no," Emily shakes her head and reaches out to cover Sharon's mouth, their slow pace coming to the stop, "Please don't finish that sentence unless you want to scar me for life and send me _back_ to therapy."

Sharon rolls her eyes before prying Emily's hands away from her mouth, "My point is that you still just need to be careful."

"I know," Emily sighs as they start to walk again, continuing in silence until they turn the corner again. An impish smile comes over her face, "At least you don't have to worry about me ending up pregnant before I graduate high school."

"Emily Eileen!" Sharon reprimands as Emily cackles next to her, her breath fogging up in the chilling air.

"Come on, Mom. I thought you could use a little cheering up from walking in on me making out with my girlfriend," Emily teases.

"How did I end up with such wicked children?" Sharon shakes her head. Emily laughs and wraps her arm around Sharon's, leaning into her mother's side.

"We're not that terrible."

"No you're not," Sharon agrees, resting her cheek against the top of Emily's head, "Let me talk to Dad tonight, before you spill the beans on everyone else. Okay?"

"Okay," Emily nods. Sharon sighs softly and tugs her daughter a little closer before she presses her lips to Emily's forehead.

"I love you so much, you know that?"

"Of course."

"You were all I ever wanted for so long," Sharon muses quietly. Her tone had a dreamy thickness to it, "And I'm so proud of everything that you've accomplished already, and how great you are…"

"Mom…"

"I know," Sharon sighs, rubbing her hand over Emily's arm before loosening her hold. They two finish their walk before heading back into the house and hanging their coats up. Emily takes her boots off and stuffs them under the bench before heading into the living room where the rest of the siblings were watching TV with the fireplace going. She sinks down onto the couch next to Sam and smiles as she sits as close as possible without wrapping an arm around her.

"Good walk with your mom?" Sam asks.

"Mmhm," Emily nods, bumping her head against Sam's in a quiet gesture before turning her focus to the tv. Sharon sighs as she drops onto the love seat next to Andy, lifting his arm to wrap around her as she lays her head on his chest and drapes her legs over his lap.

"Comfy?" Andy asks with a bemused smile.

"Perfectly," Sharon replies, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Later in the evening after her parents had already retired to their room Sharon nudges the twins up and tells them to go upstairs and get ready for bed before telling the other kids to not stay up too late, reminding them that they would be going to Mass in the morning.

"I'll be up in a second," Andy tells her, tipping his head up for a kiss before watching her head upstairs. He gets up from the couch and makes his way around the house, checking that all of the doors and windows were locked. He pours himself a glass of water from the kitchen before making his way upstairs, smiling as he hears Libby and Drew chattering away at their mother as they get ready for bed. He puts his water in his and Sharon's room before going into the twins' room where she was tucking the blankets around Libby and pressing a kiss to her head. He tells both of them goodnight and drops a kiss on their heads before they go back to their room.

Sharon picks up the glass of water and takes a sip as Andy shuts the door behind them. She sighs as she drops down onto the edge of the bed and scrubs her hands over her face, digging her fingers into her eyes with a soft groan. Andy frowns as he drops his shirt onto the top of the dresser. He nudges Sharon's foot with his after walking over to stand in front of her.

"Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sharon nods. She drops her hands into her lap and looks up at him, offering a tired smile, "Emily and Sam are _dating_ …I walked in on them making out with each other earlier."

"Oh…" Andy lets out, opening and closing his mouth a few times before tilting his head, "Emily and Sam?"

"Mmm," Sharon nods.

"That's different," He comments before taking his jeans off. He quickly folds them up and drops them on top of his shirt before sitting down next to his wife and leaning down to take his socks off, "Is this new?"

"She said six months."

"Huh…"

"She said she's never really been sure, and that Brandon attacking her didn't necessarily have anything to do with it," Sharon explains, "She and Sam were talking one day and it just kind of clicked…"

"I mean if that's what she wants, that's what she wants," Andy shrugs, scratching the top of his head.

"Exactly, that's what I told her," Sharon says, looking over at her husband, "All we want is for them to be happy and safe."

"Right," Andy nods, "That's just…I was not expecting that."

"Me. Either," Sharon laughs, "She did impart a bit of wisdom on me though."

"Oh?"

"At least we won't be grandparents sooner than we anticipated."

"Oh my god," Andy groans, flopping back on the bed. Sharon laughs and reaches over, patting him on the stomach before getting up to get ready for bed. She changes into her nightgown and wraps herself into her robe before padding across to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, leaving the bedroom door open.

Sharon splashes water over her face to rinse the suds away, reaching out blindly to grab the hand towel hanging up next to the sink. She pats her skin dry and dries her hands before hanging the towel back in its spot, biting her lip as she looks at herself in the mirror. Her fingertips brush over her temples, taking in the crows feet that were starting to crop up, the fine lines settling in.

"DAD!"

"MOM!" Sharon's eyes widen as she hears the yells from downstairs, the panicked tones setting her on edge. She rushes out of the bathroom, beating Andy to the stairs as they both fly down the steps. She could see Nicole, Charlie, Emily, and Sam standing in a circle in the living room. It isn't until she gets closer that she sees Ricky passed out in a heap on the floor. She could see blood smeared across his face and more pouring out of his nose.

"Call 911," Sharon calls out to Andy as she rushes over to her son, kneeling down next to him, "Ricky, honey! Baby, can you hear me?"

* * *

[TBC]

 **Post Notes:** I know I've mentioned previously that this has stretched long beyond what I had ever envisioned and part of that is because of the detour that we took of Sharon and Andy actually starting a relationship. They were never supposed to get together, Andy was never supposed to know about Ricky and Emily being his until this, and I never had any intention of necessarily exploring beyond the resolution of this event. And it might seem a bit much to do something to Ricky so soon after Emily, but I really wanted to keep the key idea that got me started writing this. Don't worry though! We're going to keep going strong after this and hanging out with the Flynn family for quite a while!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes:** Thanks for such a great response to the last chapter. We're picking up about an hour after the last chapter left off. Please keep in mind I only have a medical degree from Google University. I do hope that no one feels that I've skimmed over things too much. Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 _November 2003, pt.2_

Andy looks around as he jogs into the ER at St. Francis, finding his wife standing in the corner of the waiting area, her arms wrapped around her body. She was still wearing her nightgown that she'd left the house in, her feet were bare against the tile, and red stained her hands. He was only dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt himself. She had left in the ambulance with Ricky, leaving Andy to wake up her parents and follow behind in the car.

"Have you talked to anyone yet?" Andy asks as he walks over, shrugging his jacket off and offering it to her. Sharon lets him wrap it around her, tucking her arms into the sleeves.

"Not yet, they took him straight back when we got here. He was still unconscious," Sharon tells him, "Did he say anything to you today?"

"No," Andy shakes his head, "He seemed good today."

"What if…" Sharon shakes her head as her eyes fill with tears.

"Don't think like that," Andy says as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. He rubs his hand up and down her back as they wait for the doctor. It's another half hour before they hear their name called. Sharon jumps up and rushes over to the doctor that was waiting outside the doors that lead back to the triage area.

"How is he?"

"You're with Mr. Flynn?"

"Yes," Sharon nods and pulls Andy's jacket tighter around her body as he walks up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulders, "I'm his mother."

"We have Richard stable, but I'm concerned about some of the quick blood work that we did on him."

"Concerned?"

"All of his counts are extremely low. Red and white blood cells and platelets, probably why it took us so long to get his nose to stop bleeding," The doctor explains, "Has he had any other bleeding events recently?"

"He had another nose bleed, Friday morning," Sharon tells him, "I wasn't around, but he said that it lasted about thirty, forty-five minutes. I don't know how heavy it was specifically…there were a lot of tissues in the trash…"

"Anything else?"

"Not that we've noticed, but he wasn't exactly forthcoming about that one so…"

"Does your son play any sports? Have any allergies?" The doctor asks.

"He plays baseball," Andy answers, "But they're in their off season now. He hasn't worked out in…a few weeks at least. As for allergies…no medications…seasonal in the spring…"

"And he's gotten a little hive-y the last couple times we've had shellfish…" Sharon throws in, "But it's been a while since the last time. Why?"

"When we were examining him I noticed that he had a large bruise on his back and a rash across his abdomen. Had he mentioned that at all?"

"No," Sharon shakes her head.

"Alright, I'm going to admit Richard. I have some more tests that I'm going to order, but I'm also going to order him a transfusion of whole blood," The doctor explains, "You can go back and sit with him. The nurses will be by in a little bit to move him upstairs."

"Is he awake?"

"He was coming around when I came out here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was in and out with his ranges the way they are."

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" Sharon asks before they go back to see Ricky.

"I have some ideas," The doctor comments, "But I want to run those tests before we talk about anything specific."

"Thank you doctor," Andy nods before leading Sharon back to where Ricky was being looked at. He was hooked up to a few machines and his eyes were barely open. He only manages to lift a couple fingers in greeting as Sharon rushes over to his side. She presses her lips to his forehead and brushes his hair back.

"Hi, my darling," She whispers quietly.

"I got…blood on you…" Ricky breathes out quietly, his hand only lifting slightly to indicate a stain on Sharon's night gown, not even noticing her hands.

"Don't you worry about that," Sharon smiles, "It took me until you were five to teach you to cover your mouth when you coughed. I'm your mom…You can bleed on me, cough on me, throw up on me…"

"Am I dying, Mom?" Ricky asks, his voice suddenly tearful, "I feel like I'm dying."

"No, no, no, no, no," Sharon shakes her head, her own eyes tearing up again, "You are going to be fine. You're going to be absolutely fine. The doctors are running tests and they're going to figure out what's going on and make you better."

"I'm so tired," Ricky mumbles.

"Sleep," Sharon murmurs. She strokes his hair gently and presses her lips to his forehead again, "Rest, my sweet boy."

Sharon waits until he's asleep before turning to Andy and brushing the tears from her cheek.

"Okay…can you…" Sharon takes a deep breath, "Can you go back to the house and get me something to wear and some shoes? And will you grab something for him, maybe some sweatpants at least? And ask the kids, especially Charlie, if he mentioned if anything was out of the ordinary or if they remember any other nose bleeds."

"Sure," Andy nods, "Anything else?"

"I don't think so," Sharon shakes her head, the motion jerkier than normal as she tries to keep her composure. Andy steps around the bed and wraps his arms around her, pulling her close. He presses a kiss to her temple and squeezes her tight.

"He'll be okay," He murmurs quietly into her ear. He holds her for a few minutes longer before letting go. He gives Ricky's foot a pat through the blankets covering him before heading out of the room and towards the parking lot.

Andy drives back to the O'Dwyer's house and pulls into the driveway, dropping his head against the steering wheel for a moment before steeling himself and getting out of the car. He makes his way inside and jumps when all of the kids start bombarding him with questions.

"Hey!" Andy raises his voice after taking a couple attempts at trying to talk over them. The kids quiet down as Emily speaks up.

"Dad, _what_ is going on?"

"Your brother is stable, they're admitting him to the hospital and running some tests to figure out what is going on with him," Andy explains, "I'm grabbing some clothes for your mom and Ricky and then I'm heading back. Has he mentioned _anything_ to you guys about not feeling well? Bruises? Rashes? Any nose bleeds besides the one on Friday and tonight?"

"He's been pretty tired the last few days," Charlie mentions, "He'd been going to bed a lot earlier than normal. Took the comforter off of my bed last night, said he was cold."

"He had a headache yesterday when we got back from the game," Nicole says, "I gave him some Excedrin. I didn't think anything of it."

"He told me he thought that the soup he had for lunch a few days ago had seafood in it," Emily says with a sigh, "That he'd gotten a rash."

"Okay," Andy nods, "That's good to know. I'm going to grab the stuff I need and head back to the hospital. You guys should get to bed, it's late."

"Dad, Ricky is in the hospital, you can't expect us to just go to sleep!" Emily exclaims, her brow set in a familiar frown, "We should be there with him."

"Em, I know you're worried but having all of you guys there is just going to be too much," Andy says with a sigh, "He was going back to sleep when I left, and we're not going to know anything more until closer to morning. I'll call once we know more from the doctor and Grandma and Grandpa can bring you over. There's nothing else to be done tonight."

"I'll grab Ricky's sweatpants and some socks," Charlie offers, "Is there anything else you want?"

"No," Andy shakes his head, "I think that'll be it right now."

Both Andy and Charlie climb the stairs to the second floor. Andy gathers an outfit of sweatpants and a worn out Yale t-shirt for Sharon, also taking the time to grab a pair of socks and shoes and her cardigan. He stuffs them into her purse before meeting Charlie in the hallway and taking Ricky's clothes.

"Is he really going to be okay?" Charlie asks as Andy adds the things to the bag.

"He'll be fine," Andy nods, "The doctors will figure out what's wrong and…he'll be okay."

"Promise you'll call in the morning?"

"First thing," Andy agrees. He claps his eldest son on the shoulder before going back downstairs. The girls were still gathered at the foot of the stairs, standing close together talking, "I'm going to head back. Like I told Charlie, I'll call first thing in the morning. Your grandparents can bring you over. And I'll call if anything changes."

"Tell him I miss him," Emily says, chewing at her thumbnail, "Please."

"Of course," Andy nods. He presses a kiss to her forehead before hugging Nicole and bidding the three of them goodbye. He drives back to the hospital and sighs as he steps inside, realizing he didn't have Ricky's room number. He scrubs his hand over his face and makes his way to the nurse's station. He knocks his knuckles quietly against the desk to catch the attention of the on duty nurse.

"Hi, I'm looking for my son's room. He was admitted through the ER this evening?"

"Name?"

"Richard Flynn."

"Looks like he was moved up to the fourth floor. 4105," The nurse tells him, "You can take the elevators just around the corner here."

"Thanks," Andy nods before making his way towards the elevator. He stares at the floor during his ride up, only breaking out of his silent reverie when the door dings. Stepping out, Andy takes a moment to orient himself before heading towards Ricky's room. He knocks quietly on the door as he steps in and finds Sharon perched in a chair next to Ricky's bed. Her head was resting on her hand and her eyes were trained on his face, occasionally flicking over to the heart monitor gently beeping to his left.

"Hi," Sharon whispers, sitting up a little bit more.

"How's he doing?" Andy asks as he walks around the bed and over to his wife. He hands her her purse, reaching in to take out Ricky's things. He puts the couple items on the small bedside table before sitting down himself.

"He's still stable," Sharon says as she pulls out her own clothes, "They just started the first packet of whole blood about twenty minutes ago. The doctor will come see how he is after that, and should hopefully have more information."

"Okay…okay…Go get changed. I'll sit with him," Andy tells her. Sharon nods and stands up, leaning down to press her lips to Ricky's forehead. She steps into the bathroom and shuts the door behind herself before starting to change. Andy sighs and leans closer to the bed, pulling his chair over. He grabs his son's hand and squeezes softly while studying his sleeping features. He takes in the pale tone of Ricky's normally tan skin, the small bit of dried blood in his nostril, and realizes that this could be much more serious than any of them could imagine, "Hey bub…Em wanted me to tell you she misses you. Everyone's worried. They want you to get better and come home, but they're going to come see you in the morning. Your mom and I are going to stay though, okay?"

Andy sighs and drops his head as he doesn't get a response, continuing to hold onto Ricky's hand until he feels Sharon's hand on his shoulder. She slips easily into his lap and he wraps his arm around her waist. He holds onto her as her hand takes his place and she drops her head to rest against the top of his. They sit in silence for a while longer until the doctor comes in just as Ricky's transfusion is finishing. Sharon sits up a little more as she notices the nurse unhooking the empty IV bag but not replacing it with another one.

"I thought you were going to give him at least two pints," Sharon asks as she looks at the doctor.

"We will, but right now I want to take Ricky for a bone marrow biopsy."

"Bone marrow?" Sharon exclaims, jumping up from Andy's lap.

"From what we know so far, I believe that Richard has what's called aplastic anemia. The short explanation would be that his body has stopped producing mature blood cells, which would be the root cause of a lot of his issues. The biopsy will help us confirm diagnosis so we can focus on treating him."

"What is treatment?" Sharon asks as she folds her arms, "If that's what he does have?"

"And how does he even get something like this?" Andy inquires.

"Aplastic anemia can be hereditary, it can because by exposure to toxic chemicals, but it's also just as likely to be a random presentation," The doctor explains, "If we do confirm the diagnosis, most likely at this stage we'll need to treat with a bone marrow transplant."

"Oh my god," Sharon shakes her head, covering her mouth with one hand as she looks down at Ricky.

"If a transplant is necessary, it _will_ be a process," The doctor warns quietly, "But first I'd like to get the test done and see where we're at."

"What does the test…I mean how do you…"

"We'll give him some local anesthetic, and make an incision in Richard's lower back, about the area of his upper hip. We take a long needle and insert it into the bone and take a sample of the fluid before taking a sample of the actual tissue. Those will go to the lab for processing."

"How long until we know?"

"I'm hoping by noon tomorrow at the latest. He'll be bumped to the front of the line."

"Okay," Sharon nods, "Is there anything that we need to sign?"

"Just this consent form," The doctor says, handing over the second clipboard he was holding along with a pen. Sharon scribbles her name on the bottom line before handing it back.

"Can we walk down with him?" Andy asks as he stands.

"Of course," The doctor nods, "We're actually just heading to the west side of this floor, so short walk."

"Thank you," Sharon whispers. She holds onto Ricky's hand as he's wheeled down to the other end of the floor, only letting go as they approach the doors labeled with large "Do Not Enter" signs. She watches through the chicken wired glass as he's wheeled down the hall. Her eyes stay on him until he disappears into a room and a few moments longer before she turns to Andy, not bothering to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks, "It was just…he just had a nose bleed…and now he probably needs a bone marrow transplant?"

"I…I don't even know anymore," Andy shakes his head as they continue to stand outside the doors, "I thought maybe he had some infection or something…fuck."

The two of them walk back to Ricky's room and drop down into their chairs. Sharon pulls hers closer to Andy's and leans her head against his shoulder as he wraps his arm around her. The dam breaks loose as he presses a kiss to her forehead and she bursts into tears, burying her face into his shoulder. She trails off after a few minutes and wipes her nose on his shirt, her head continuing to rest in its place. They sit quietly until Ricky is wheeled back in after the procedure and hooked up to another unit of blood. The nurse assures them that the procedure went well and the samples were on their way to pathology to be looked over.

The doctor and nurses are in and out throughout the night and Ricky continues to sleep until the sunlight starts to fill the room with warm gold. Sharon gets up from her chair as she hears him groan softly before reaching over to itch at the IV in his arm. He wrinkles his nose as he feels the tape, finally opening his eyes. He blinks a few times in confusion before the memory of what had happened comes back to him.

"Hi, honey," Sharon murmurs as she brushes her fingers through his hair, "How are you feeling?"

"Slightly better than being hit by a car," Ricky rasps, "Can I have some water?"

"Sure," Sharon nods. She grabs the cup that was sitting on his side tray and fills it with water before putting a straw in it and holding it to his lips. Ricky takes a couple of healthy swallows before releasing the straw. Andy puts the bed into more of a sitting position as Sharon puts the cup back, Ricky still blinking heavily as he looks around the room.

"Why does my ass hurt?"

"Language," Sharon reprimands softly, "They had to take a bone marrow sample. They took it from your hip."

"Why?" Ricky furrows his brow.

"The doctor thinks that you have something called aplastic anemia. It means that your body isn't making blood cells right," Sharon explains, "They had to take a biopsy to confirm that's what is wrong with you."

"Oh," Ricky mumbles before looking at the IV, "Is that why the blood?"

"Yeah, it's temporary," Sharon assures him.

"Okay. They're still running tests?"

"The doctor hopes they'll have the results by later this morning," Andy interjects.

"Can I eat?" Ricky asks hopefully. Sharon lets out a choked laugh and nods.

"Yes, yes. You can eat," She chuckles. Andy stands up from his chair, wincing as his back aches.

"How about this? I will go down to the cafeteria and get us all something to eat and while I'm down there I'll call the house and give everyone an update."

"I think that sounds like a good idea," Sharon agrees. Andy nods and presses a kiss to Ricky's head before leaving the room to go to the cafeteria. Sharon sighs as she looks back down at her son, "Why didn't you say anything about any of this? The doctor said you have a huge bruise on your back and a rash on your stomach...Ricky, you made it sound like it was just one nose bleed the other morning."

"I didn't think they were related. I thought the bruise was from playing with Drew. He knocked me over a few times when we were playing in the yard last week," Ricky replies, "You know how much of a spaz he can be. And I thought the rash was from something I ate. I swear that Friday morning was the first nosebleed I'd had."

"This could end up being very serious. It _is_ serious already," Sharon says, "You have no idea how terrified I was when I saw you passed out on the floor..."

"I'm sorry," Ricky apologizes. Sharon nods and sighs, brushing the boy's hair out of his face again. Her hand strokes lovingly over his cheek before she moves back to her own chair and curls one of her feet under her body. She sits with him until Andy comes back holding a brown paper bag and coffee in one hand while putting his phone in his pocket with the other.

"Your parents are going to bring the rest of the kids up soon," Andy relays to Sharon as he hands her the drink tray the coffee cups were secured in. He sets the bag of food on Ricky's bed tray before starting to dig things out. He hands his wife a cup of oatmeal and a banana before holding a breakfast sandwich out to Ricky with a bottle of juice. He takes out his own breakfast sandwich and sets it on his chair before crumpling up the bag and throwing it away.

The three of them enjoy a quiet breakfast before the doctor comes in to check on Ricky, giving him a more detailed account of what was going on than what Sharon had mentioned. They watched as their son paled at the thought of having to have a transplant done. The doctor assures them that the test was in progress and they would have the results within the next few hours before the rest of the family shows up. Sharon and Andy step out into the hall to talk to her parents as the kids visit with Ricky. He takes the time to explain some of the finer details he had glossed over while on the phone with his in-laws, seeing his wife's face grow weary at the thought of having to explain it again.

The O'Dwyer's spend the morning at the hospital as Sharon manages to keep the other kids from wearing Ricky out too badly. The boy falls asleep after a couple hours once the nurse comes in to remove his last transfusion and transfer him to a bag of fluids. Sharon sighs as she wraps her arms around Drew, the boy bundled up in her lap. Her eyes close as her head rests against his shoulder and she starts to doze off. Her cat nap is interrupted when the door to the room opens and she feels Andy's hand on her leg. She lifts her head and notices the doctor waiting to talk to them. Nudging Drew down from her lap she stands along with Andy and follows the doctor out to the hall.

"So?" Sharon asks as Andy pulls the door shut.

"I would feel comfortable confirming a diagnosis of aplastic anemia for Richard," The doctor says. He shuffles through the folder in his hands and pulls out a sheet of paper showing it to them. There were two images on the paper. The one on the left was mostly purple, peppered with little dots of what Sharon assumed were cells while the other was mostly yellow, only a few smatterings of purple throughout, "The sample on the left is a normal, healthy bone marrow sample. The one on the right is your son's. The marrow has been replaced almost completely by fat because the blood cells aren't producing properly…"

"I…oh my god…" Sharon takes the paper, her fingers curling around the edges, crumpling it.

"What do we do now then?" Andy asks as he looks up from the picture in Sharon's hands.

"Like I mentioned, a bone marrow transplant is a process. It would be probably be better in the long run to get Richard home to Los Angeles. He'll be in the hospital a minimum of two weeks post transplant, he'll have to go through a round of chemotherapy to prepare for the procedure, post release he needs to be at most half an hour away from his transplant team. They will suggest that you and your kids get tested to see if anyone is a match before going to the registry."

"Can he travel like this?"

"If you tell me you want to go back to LA I can be on the phone after this talking to doctors. I'd like to have him out of here and on a plane as soon as possible with as little of a break as we can manage. He's doing well based on the transfusions that we gave him, but that can only last so long. We'd have an ambulance meet you on the tarmac at LAX and take him straight to the hospital to start the process," The doctor explains to them, "If you wanted to stay in the area we'd transfer you down to New Haven, short 15 minute helicopter ride."

"And there are no other options? Just the transplant?"

"He can continue to receive transfusions on a regular interval, but that can have side effects after a while, and it's never going to get his body making blood cells correctly again. Richard is young and healthy enough that a transplant is going to be his best bet at a normal life."

"Shar?" Andy probes quietly.

"Huh?" Sharon replies, her head snapping in his direction.

"Do we want to take Rick back to LA to do this transplant?"

"Yeah, I wanna take him home," Sharon nods, "Please."

"Okay, I will put in a call to Cedars and start transferring his records over. Once you know your flight information we can talk about discharge."

"Thank you, doctor," Andy shakes the man's hand before turning to face Sharon and putting his hands on her arms as she keeps the picture in her clutch. He runs his hands up and down slowly and takes the paper from her hands. He folds it in half and then once more before tucking it in his pocket, "We'll go in and explain what is going to happen the best we can. I will call the airport and see if we can change our flight."

"How are you so…"

"Because one of us needs to be," Andy replies. He takes her hand in his and brings it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

"I can't say it…I can't," Sharon shakes her head.

"I can do the talking," He murmurs. He threads his fingers with hers and slowly pulls her back towards the room. She sets her weight before they can walk back inside, pulling Andy towards her. She draws in a jarring, shaky breath and he pulls back, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her to hold her close.

"My baby is sick…" She whispers into his shoulder.

"He…is gonna get better," Andy tells her, a waiver of uncertainty finally showing up in his voice, "He'll get better."

The two of them spend a few more moments in the hallway before going into Ricky's room. Sharon wakes the boy up and helps him sit up before sitting on the bed next to him and holding his hand. Andy sighs and stuffs his hands into his pockets, starting to explain the situation to everyone. He continues to explain that they were going to be catching the next flight out to LA that they could get onto so they could get home and get Ricky's treatment started.

Sharon's parents gather the kids after a few minutes of letting the news marinate, planning to take them back to the house so they could get packed. Each of them says goodbye to Ricky before they leave, eventually leaving him alone with his parents. He asks a few more questions before slipping off to sleep again. Andy takes his slip back into sleep to call the airport, managing to rearrange their tickets to a flight leaving later that evening. He lets the doctor know what their plans were before calling the house and letting Mary know when they were going to need to be to the airport by.

By midnight they were landing in LA, the red and blue lights of the ambulance flashing starkly against the dark of the night sky. Sharon elects to ride in the ambulance with Ricky as Andy takes the kids back to where their car was parked in the long term parking lot. He loads the bags and kids into the car before heading towards home. Sam offers to stay with Emily since they had been planning to be out of town through the rest of the weekend anyway. The kids are all dropped off at the house and Andy tucks the twins into bed before reminding the older ones that he would have his phone on him and be back in the morning on his way out of the house to go to the hospital.

Once at Cedars, Andy makes his way up to the room that Ricky had been checked into, finding his son asleep in the bed and Sharon curled up asleep on the small couch underneath the window. She had her jacket bundled up beneath her head as a pillow and her feet tucked underneath a blanket from the hospital. He closes the door quietly before shedding his own jacket and sinking down onto the couch. He replaces the jacket with his lap and runs his fingers through Sharon's hair before closing his own eyes and starting to doze off.

The next few days are spent reconfirming the diagnosis from the doctor in Hartford and gathering samples from the family to test against Ricky's to see if anyone would be a matching donor. Sharon worked with the school to make sure they could gather the work that Ricky would need to finish the quarter and then they would realign closer to Christmas to see where he was at and if he was going to need to switch to a more at home of a program for the second half of the year. The transplant team walked them through what the next few months of their life was going to be like, how the procedure was going to happen, what kind of care Ricky would need, and how long they could expect him to be in the hospital for. They were optimistic that he could go home for a few days for Thanksgiving before coming back the following week to start the process. It was the day before Thanksgiving before the doctor brought Sharon and Andy in to talk about the test results for familial donors.

"I'm hoping you're not telling us that out of his five siblings and the two of us there's not a match," Andy attempts to joke as he sits down in one of the chairs in front of the doctor's desk.

"Actually quite the contrary," The doctor smiles, turning the results paper towards them to show them a simple chart that he had drawn out, "Which is good. Four of you are good enough matches to make a donation. Based on Ricky's profile and the results we got from everyone, Emily is the best match. Andy you're right behind her, along with Nicole and Drew. Sharon, you _could_ donate but it comes in just below our matching criteria, and Elizabeth and Charlie wouldn't be good choices."

"How big of a difference is it between Emily and I?" Andy asks as he looks at the list

"Only a couple of percentage points really," The doctor explains, taking the list back before flipping through to the more detailed results, "She gets a bit of a boost because she's younger and you have a history of alcohol abuse."

"What kind of recovery time can the person who donates expect?"

"About three weeks. A week of rest, and then another two before full marrow function is restored," The doctor tells them, "I wouldn't expect it to have a huge impact on Emily's life, she'd take a few days off of school, take it easy for a few weeks."

"I'll do it," Andy replies.

"What? Why?" Sharon responds as she looks over at Andy, "Emily said she would do it if she came back a match. She wants to help."

"She is also supposed to go to auditions for Juilliard in three weeks. If she does this she is in no uncertain terms forfeiting her application for early admission," Andy points out, "If there's that little difference between my match to Ricky and hers, I can do it."

"I think that should be her decision to make."

"I don't think we should put her in that kind of position."

"You don't need to decide who is going to make the donation now," The doctor interjects, "We're going to send Ricky home for the weekend. Bring him back Monday morning, and we'll start preparing him for the donation. We'll do rounds of radiation starting Monday afternoon after some final tests and exams, and we should be able to do the donation on Friday."

"That soon?" Sharon asks.

"As long as we don't have any setbacks I don't see why not," The doctor responds, "The sooner we do the transplant the sooner Ricky starts feeling better."

"Of course," Sharon nods, "We can take him home now?"

"Give me an hour to get his discharge paperwork together and then I'll meet you in his room."

"Thank you," Andy says, standing from his chair and shaking the doctor's hand.

"We'll get you through this. I know it's been a rough few days, but we'll get you guys through this," The doctor assures both of them, "I have no doubt that Ricky is going to bounce back from this."

"We really appreciate it, Doctor King," Sharon says, shaking the doctor's hand as well. Andy holds the door open for her as they walk out of the doctor's office before heading back towards Ricky's room, "I know you want to tell Emily, but I don't want to make her choose between going to her audition and helping Ricky. You know what she would choose, and she deserves to at least try to get in to Juilliard early."

"So we're just supposed to lie to her and tell her she's not a match?"

"We bend the truth a little bit and tell them I'm the best match," Andy says, "I wouldn't suggest this if I thought it was going to screw up Ricky's chances, but it's a couple of percentage points. The doctor would have told us if he thought it was a bad idea. We've gotta do what's best for all of them, right? That's why we brought Ricky home instead of staying in Connecticut."

"I know, I know," Sharon sighs softly before nodding, "Okay. You'll do the donation, we'll tell them you were the best match, and Ricky will get better."

"He will," Andy nods, squeezing her hand.

"It seems too easy," Sharon lets out a choked sound, stopping in the hallway. Her hands go to her waist as she takes in a shuddering breath and shakes her head furiously, "This is such…such bullshit! He should not be laying in that bed and this _shouldn't_ be happening. He's fourteen and he's having a bone marrow transplant next week because his body just decided that it didn't need to work anymore. He is _fourteen_ and he should _not_ have to deal with this!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Andy steps closer and furrows his brow as he puts his hands on her arms, "We just got some pretty good news all things considering."

"It means that he's sick!" Sharon exclaims before lowering her voice, "It means that he's really sick…and there's nothing I can do to help him."

"Shar you can't believe that…"

"I can't be his donor, I have to balance my time with him with trying to keep my fucking job…" Sharon sobs, "My baby is sick and I can't fix him."

"Honey…" Andy sighs and cups her face in his hands, brushing her tears away, "You have been doing a great job of taking care of him the last few days. It's going to be rough for a while, we know that. But you do not have to do all of this alone. I am going to be right here with you and I will do whatever I can to help you."

"I just want this to all go away," Sharon whimpers.

"I know," Andy whispers. He presses a firm kiss to her temple before wiping her face off with the sleeve of his sweater, "But, we have good to focus on. Ricky has a donor and he gets to come home for a few days. We'll worry about next week, next week."

Sharon nods in agreement and kisses his palm before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying herself into his hold for another moment. Andy releases her after a moment and they make their way to Ricky's room, giving him the good news that he would be getting his transplant the next week and would be able to come home for a few days. He's discharged early in the afternoon and is whisked away from the hospital to the house in the hills.

The family manages to enjoy a relatively normal Thanksgiving before Ricky's taken back to the hospital on Monday. The morning is spent doing final testing on him and Andy before he's taken to his first radiation treatment. Sharon and Andy stand in the booth, watching as the machine moves around Ricky's body, delivering his first dose of radiation. Afterwards, Sharon curls up on the couch in the corner with files in her lap while Ricky watches the end of Monday Night Football with his father, the boy dozing on and off during the game. Once the game ends he flips channels for a few minutes before landing on the Sci-Fi network. The two men sit together for a little while longer before Andy tells Ricky and Sharon good night, kissing his wife on the lips before he leaves.

Sharon looks over after her son's commentary on the Battlestar Galactica miniseries trails off. Ricky would talk the ear off of anyone that would listen about the mini-series. She finds his eyes closed and his grip on the remote loose. Closing the file on her lap she gets up and turns the tv off along with most of the lights. She leans the bed back into more of a reclined position and pulls his blankets up, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. She curls back up on the couch and makes it through the rest of the files she had brought with her before dozing off herself.

The next few days pass in much the same fashion. Most afternoons Andy leaves for a little while to pick up the kids and brings them by for a little while to see Ricky, but only through the glass of his room as they try to be more conscious of his exposure to germs. On Friday morning Andy comes alone, waiting for the doctor in Ricky's room. It's closer to ten when they come to check him in, all ready to whisk him away to the procedure area.

"Hey Dad?" Ricky pipes up before Andy can leave.

"Yeah, bud?" Andy replies, turning to face his son.

"Thank you for doing this," Ricky says as his fingers pick at the blanket draped across his lap. Andy sighs softly and walks back over to the bed, sinking down on the edge.

"I would do this for you or any of your brothers and sisters," Andy tells him, "It's part of being a parent. I'm _glad_ that I'm able to do this for you. I'd give you a kidney if I had to."

"I'm good right now," Ricky grins, tiredly but with a tinge of playfulness around the edges. Andy grins back and reaches out to ruffle his hair before getting up.

"I'll see you in a little while."

"Sounds good," Ricky replies before watching Andy follow the doctors out of the room. He looks over at Sharon and tips his head slightly, "He's going to be okay right?"

"He'll be fine," Sharon smiles to reassure him. She closes the folder in her lap and stands up, approaching the bed, "You up for some cards?"

"Yeah if you shuffle," Ricky replies as Sharon grabs the deck of cards off of his side table. The two of them manage to get a couple games in before Ricky falls asleep, already exhausted from his activities that morning. Sharon packs away the cards and sinks back down on the couch to return to her work. She sits in the quiet for a while longer until a nurse stops by to let her know that Andy was out of his procedure and they were preparing the donation to bring down for Ricky. She asks to see her husband and leaves a note for her son before following the nurse back down the hall. Andy was in a small recovery area stretched out in bed with a dopey smile on his face.

"Hey handsome," She murmurs.

"Hey beautiful," Andy replies in an anesthetized mumble.

"How are you feeling?" Sharon asks as she takes a seat next to his bed and takes his hand in hers.

"Oh just fine."

"Mmm, just fine huh?"

"Yep," Andy laughs. Sharon grins back at him and looks up as the doctor steps in.

"How did he do, doctor?"

"Really well. We did two extraction sites and took out about 1800 milliliters total, they're getting everything ready for Ricky to receive the donation right now. Andy's going to hang out with us until the anesthetic wears off and he can have a snack."

"Hear that, I get a snack."

"You do, a three thousand dollar deductible snack," Sharon smiles at him. The doctor laughs and signs off on a few things on Andy's chart.

"We'll keep an eye on him and send him back to Ricky's room once we discharge him."

"Thank you," Sharon nods before the doctor leaves. She looks back down at Andy and brushes her fingers through his hair, "My sweet amazing husband…"

"I'm pretty amazing aren't I?"

"Very much so," Sharon nods again before leaning down and pressing a slow, deep kiss to his lips, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Get some rest. I'll see you in a little while okay?"

"Mmhm," Andy nods. Sharon kisses his forehead softly before getting up and going back to Ricky's room. Soon after she arrives the donation team shows up with the donation from Andy ready to go. She stands next to his bed as they hook the packet of cells up to the central line that he'd had placed the week before. The nurse hangs the bag with the rest of his IVs and waits for a few minutes before leaving them alone.

New Years passed before they were able to bring Ricky home from the hospital. There were still frequent doctors appointments in their future and he was going to finish the third quarter of school from home. Baseball was out of the question this year, but Sharon and Andy had stretched the budget a little bit thinner and purchased him his own computer to keep in his room to help continue foster his love for electronics. Lyla and Frank had also helped immensely during his recovery, keeping the boy company during the day when he was mostly on his own even with Sharon working from home.

Andy thought Sharon had gone a little over board with reminding the other kids to wash their hands and keep their distance from Ricky if they were getting sick, but after a cold had almost put him back in the hospital he'd gotten on the computer himself to make signs for them to tape up around the house. They'd finally pulled most of them down the night before Ricky was supposed to go back to school, crumpling them up and throwing them in the trash. He watches as she gives the school a forlorn look as the kids make their way inside, Ricky the only one to turn around and offer a wave at their car.

"We had to let him out of the house eventually," Andy reminds her.

"Nah, we could have kept him there another couple years," Sharon responds, tearing her eyes away and focusing on Andy, "But I know what you mean."

"He'll be okay…he's healthy."

"He's on his way to it," Sharon sighs as she turns the engine over before pulling away from the school and pointing them towards the Parker Center.

* * *

[TBC]


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes** Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciated all of the feedback that was given. Hope this chapter is a little more on the happy side compared to the last two. Please read and review, enjoy!

* * *

 _August 2004_

The thud of her heels against the floor is dulled by the thin carpet of the hallway as she glances at the piece of paper in her hand before starting to count room numbers. She stops in front of the one she'd been searching for, pausing for a moment before knocking on the door. She jumps slightly when the door is flung open after a moment.

"Sharon! What are you doing here? Dad said you weren't coming."

"Change of plans," Sharon smiles slightly, hiking her bag over her shoulder, "I wasn't expecting to run into you. I thought you'd be at your dorm."

"We're getting ready to go to dinner, and then I'm being dropped off on the doorstep," Nicole jokes. The girl had ended up deciding to go to the University of Pennsylvania for college and Vicky and Andy were in the process of getting her moved into her dorm. The group had left the afternoon before for Philadelphia laden with more than enough suitcases to move a teenage girl across the country.

"Nic, who's at the do…" Andy asks as he steps out of the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed. He smiles when he sees Sharon, "Hey stranger."

"Hi," Sharon smiles before finally stepping into the room. She presses a kiss to her husband's lips and drops her bag onto the bed.

"We're just getting ready to meet Vick downstairs to go to dinner. We can wait for you to change though."

"No, no, you guys go ahead," Sharon shakes her head, "Enjoy your dinner together."

"Are you sure?" Andy asks, tilting his head slightly.

"Of course," Sharon nods with a smile. She gives Nicole a big hug and winks at her, "I'll have to come see your dorm room tomorrow after you have time to pretty it up."

"Sounds good," Nicole smiles, "Come on, Dad."

"Go," Sharon shoos Andy, "I'll be here when you get back."

"Okay," Andy says skeptically, kissing Sharon before leaving the room with Nicole. Sharon puts her bag on the suitcase rack next to the bag that Andy had brought. She snags a t-shirt from his bag and grabs a toiletry bag from hers before going into the bathroom. She turns the faucet in the tub on and waits for the water to heat before putting a plug in and adding a cap full of bubble bath from the small travel bottle she'd brought with. She leaves the tub to fill and returns to the living area, grabbing the room service menu. She peruses it for a few moments before calling in an order to be brought up in an hour.

Hanging up the phone Sharon makes her way into the bathroom and undresses from the work clothes she was wearing. She turns the faucet off and clips her hair up before taking the time to take out her contacts and pull down a couple of towels from the rack over the toilet. She sinks down into the foamy bath with a happy sigh before grabbing one of the towels and putting it behind her neck. She closes her eyes as she sinks down to her chin and lets the steamy scent of jasmine carry her away into a relaxed state. She takes a while to soak in silence before getting out as the water starts to cool.

As the water drains she pats her skin dry with a towel before grabbing a bottle of lotion and starting to massage it into her skin. Once she finishes she combs out her hair and puts on Andy's t-shirt before wrapping herself in one of the provided robes just as knuckles knock on the door. She checks the peephole and opens the door to the room service waiter. She steps back and lets him in to set the table that was in the corner of the room before giving him a tip and locking the door behind him.

Sharon grabs the plate that had her dinner on it and carries it to the bed, setting it on the bedside table as she takes the robe off and drapes it over the foot of the bed. She sits against the headboard and turns the tv on before starting to eat as she flips through channels, looking for something to watch. After she finishes eating she puts the plate back onto the bedside table and stretches out on her side. She continues watching tv until she hears the door click and open, signaling Andy's return.

"Hi," Sharon says as she sits up and turns the tv off. Andy shrugs his jacket off and drapes it over their bags, "Good dinner?"

"Yeah we went to some nice place downtown. Dropped Nic off at her dorm," Andy tells her, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," Sharon says as she scoots towards the edge of the bed closest to him, the t-shirt riding high on her thighs.

"I asked if you wanted to come this weekend when I booked my ticket a month and a half ago, you said you didn't want to leave the kids alone. Before I left you said you had to catch up on work this weekend," Andy replies, frustration seeping into his tone.

"I know," Sharon replies simply.

"Well what exactly has changed then?"

"I wanted to see you," She repeats once more, looking up at him with soft eyes, "It has come to my attention that maybe I've been focusing on the kids and work a little too much lately."

"And what could possibly give you that idea?" Andy responds sarcastically.

"I might have run out of paperwork to do. And I haven't _not_ had paperwork since I started this job over a year ago…" Sharon admits, "And all of the kids ended up with plans this weekend. Emily and Sam are hanging out together at the house, Charlie is on that camping trip, the twins are staying with friends. Even Ricky managed to convince me to let him stay at Mark's."

"So…"

"So, I booked a ticket out here and decided to come see you," She finishes, "Between focusing on them and trying to make up at work from Ricky being sick…I haven't exactly been leaving time for you. And I thought instead of you flying back tomorrow we could make a little weekend of it and take the Sunday afternoon night flight back."

"Oh you did, did you?" Andy asks as he unbuttons his dress shirt that he had worn to dinner.

"I did," Sharon nods as she leans her weight on her hand, watching as his fingers move slowly, "I'm happy to get my own room and head home tomorrow morning on the first flight out though if you don't want me here."

He didn't need to know that she had already extended the room reservation and updated his plane ticket.

"You know I want you here," Andy says as he puts his shirt into his bag before climbing onto the bed and pressing his lips to hers. Sharon hums and kisses him back deeply, leaning into him slightly. He pulls back with a small hum, "You smell good."

"I took a bubble bath while you were at dinner," Sharon tells him with a seductive smile.

"Mmm," Andy hums quietly, "You actually let Ricky out of the house?"

" _That's_ what you're focusing on," Sharon says with an air of exasperation.

"I mean it's a big step for you. He turned 15 this year an-OW!" Andy exclaims as Sharon thwacks him on the shoulder before giving him the stink eye, "I'm kidding."

"Not funny," Sharon replies. She sighs as she drops down to lay on the bed before shaking her head with an even longer sigh, "I felt lonely last night...and I've never felt lonely in our house. Even when you're gone."

"I don't want you to feel lonely," Andy responds as he hovers over her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, "You could have called."

"I didn't want to wake you up," Sharon shrugs. Another thing he didn't need to know was how the ache of loneliness in her chest had brought her to tears and she'd ended up crying herself to sleep wrapped around his pillow. He didn't need to deal with her blubbering on the phone from thousands of miles away. He'd already had to put up with her mood swings for months. One minute she'd be fine, the next she'd be sobbing over Ricky's transplant again and how helpless she felt or snapping at him for trying to help but getting in her way. She figured most of it was her mind still trying to deal with the emotional trauma of Ricky getting sick, but another part of her was honest about her age and realized it could be her body starting to make _the_ change.

"You can _always_ wake me up," Andy reassures her as he drops down to lay on the mattress before wrapping his arms tight around her and pulling her close. Sharon easily tangles her legs with his and wraps her arms around his torso, hugging him tight as her head easily fits underneath his chin. She spends a few quiet moments pressing soft kisses along his neck and jaw as she enjoys being held.

"I love you," Sharon murmurs.

"I love you too," Andy replies. She runs her hand up and down his back, her fingers slowly tracing along the notches of his spine through his undershirt. Soon her fingers creep underneath the hem and press against his warm skin as she presses her cheek to his chest. The two lie in silence for a while before Andy speaks up again, "What's on the table?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. Dessert," Sharon says as she pulls away from him and sits up a little bit, "Cheesecake, do you want some?"

"I'm still pretty full from dinner, but you go ahead," Andy smiles. Sharon winks at him and gets up off of the bed before walking over to the table. She pulls the cover off of the plate and grabs the fork off of the table before taking the piece of cheesecake back to bed with her. Taking a seat against the headboard, she tucks a leg under her body as she takes the first bite. She offers the second bite of the chocolate and caramel drizzled confection to her husband, taking it for herself after he rebuffs her again.

"So, Nicole's roommate?"

"Um, nice girl," Andy responds as he watches her eat, "Her name's…Carrie. Carrie from Morgantown, West Virginia. Biology major, I think is what she said. Her and Nicole seem to get along okay…at least from the couple hours we were there today."

"The morning will be telling," Sharon smiles.

"I think they'll get along," Andy shrugs, "Nicole had to fill out that roommate match form in the spring. Worst case scenario she meets someone that's a better fit and she switches rooms. I think they have to wait two weeks or something like that. See who's really coming to school and who isn't."

"Did you get her everything she needed?"

"Yes. We went to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. She has bedding, room decorations, some basic groceries, shower stuff, more clothes than she'll probably need. We went to the book store and got her books and school supplies. I told her to wait a little bit on getting a laptop, see if she needs it," Andy shrugs, "Definitely put a dent in the credit card though."

"Sounds like you had a successful day," Sharon smiles as she sets the fork down on the plate before dragging her finger through some of the remaining chocolate and caramel. Andy watches with rapt interest as she wraps her lips around the digit and sucks the sauce off, "What do you want to do tomorrow? I would like to stop by and see her room at some point."

"Um, whatever you want," Andy comments as she repeats the motion, "There's decent breakfast here. Vick's leaving in the morning...we could go over lunch."

"I've never been to Independence Hall or seen the Liberty Bell," Sharon comments after removing her finger from her mouth.

"Yeah, we can do that," Andy replies, his tone distracted as he watches her swipe her finger across the surface of the plate once more. He catches her wrist in his hand before she can finish the trip to her mouth. He pulls her hand towards him and wraps his mouth around her finger, his tongue slowly licking off the sticky sweetness. Sharon grins as he does, her eyes darkening as he continues to hold her wrist in his grasp before pulling her hand away and letting go.

"I was wondering how long that was going to take," She comments before leaning forward and pressing a heated kiss to his lips. After a moment she pulls away and gets up from the bed, grabbing her dishes before going to set them outside to be collected later. She takes a second to hang the 'Do Not Disturb' sign before closing and locking their door.

Sharon turns off the main lights in the room, leaving it bathed in the low gold hue of the bedside lamp as she walks over to Andy. She easily sheds the t-shirt she had dressed in earlier and reveals only a scant, black cotton thong. He takes a deep breath as his eyes travel over her body, darkening as they do. She straddles his legs easily, sitting on her knees. Pushing his shirt up and off, her nails gently rake down his chest to the top of his jeans. She playfully tugs at the button before prying them open and pulling the zipper down.

Andy lifts his hips as she moves before tugging the denim down his legs. She drops the jeans onto the floor next to both of their t-shirts and winks at him as she pulls his socks off and adds them to the small pile. She runs her hand up his leg as she admires his form and eyes the bulge in his boxers hungrily. Her tongue swipes over her bottom lip as she moves to straddle him again.

"Tell me what you want," Sharon murmurs as she cups him and strokes him through the broken in fabric. Andy groans and arches into her hand.

"What _I_ want?"

"Mmhm," Sharon nods, "What do you want?"

"You," Andy responds in a gravelly tone. He gasps as Sharon's hand dips inside of his boxers and he feels her skin against his.

"How do you want me?" Sharon asks as she pulls her hand away and pushes his boxers down enough to expose his cock to her. She leans down and looks up at him through her eyelashes as her tongue darts out to taste him, "Here?"

"Fuck…" Andy groans as he watches her, any blood left in his body immediately redirecting to his erection. Sharon's tongue slowly twirls around the head before she takes him into her mouth, smiling to herself as he threads his fingers into her hair and lets out a long moan. His head thunks against the wall behind the headboard as she takes his entire length in before pulling back and grinning up at him.

"Don't give yourself a concussion," She murmurs as she presses kisses along his shaft at a loving, but teasing pace, "I have plenty of plans for you, mister."

"God, I hope so," Andy mumbles and arches towards her as she flicks her tongue repeatedly against the sensitive underside of his head, her hand stroking at his base. His eyes roll back in his head as she deep throats him once more before setting a tantalizing rhythm with the perfect application of pressure. She feels his fingers tug at her hair and hears the sounds coming out of his mouth get more desperate. Her hand splays across his stomach and she drags her nails gently through the hair there, gaining his attention as she looks up at him, "Fuck Shar…I'm gonna…"

Andy lets out a loud groan and tightens his hand in her hair as he arches into her. Her name slips off of his lips in a hoarse cry while he empties himself into her. Sharon hums as she swallows his load before pulling away, pressing her lips against the softening flesh before making her way up his chest. She leans her chest against his and grins at him as he twitches and groans when she brushes up against his sensitive member. She kisses him softly and runs her fingers gently through his hair.

"Hi," She murmurs before kissing him again. She peppers his face with kisses, surprised to find his forehead dampened with sweat, "Okay?"

"Mmhm," Andy hums. He wraps his arms around her and hugs her close as her legs rest on either side of his hips. He captures her lips in a lazy kiss and rests his forehead against hers, "I love you."

"I love you too," Sharon replies as she smiles at him while resting her head on his shoulder. His fingertips trail up and down her back as he rests, dipping lower on each pass until his fingers slip beneath the waistband of her thong. She giggles as he cups her ass in his hands and pulls her tighter against him, the stirrings of his second erection already pressing against her.

"You mentioned you had plans?" Andy asks with a smug grin on his face.

"Oh I have plans," Sharon laughs softly as she responds. She sits up and rocks her hips over him, her core rubbing against him with the heat and dampness that had gathered as she blew him. Her lips trail over his jaw and she nibbles on his earlobe before whispering seductively, "I want you inside me. I want to feel you."

"Oh yeah?" Andy bucks up against her gently.

"Uh huh," Sharon nods. She slips a hand between them and wraps her fingers around him and gives him a firm stroke before sitting up on her knees. She slips her underwear to the side and positions him at her entrance, slowly sinking down on his girth. Both of them groan as they come together.

Sharon moans as she shifts her hips before starting to thrust against him. Andy grips her hips as he guides her movements, his mouth eagerly latching onto one of the breasts bouncing in front of his face. Sharon moans as she feels his tongue swirl around her nipple and draw it into a taut peak. He nips at the bud playfully before tugging more insistently, drawing a loud moan out of his wife. He abandons his current infatuation for it's sibling, giving it much the same treatment as his hand keeps the other warm, his thumb massaging her nipple and trailing teasingly around it.

"Oh god, Andy!" Sharon moans as he tortures her. She grinds down against him and bites her lip while she threads her fingers into his hair, holding him close. Her muscles clench tight around him and she whimpers before moving faster, searching for more friction. The headboard thunks quietly against the wall with each thrust of her hips and she gasps as she feels Andy slip his hand between them to finger her clit gently.

His fingertip twirls around the swollen nub before massaging firmly over the top of it. Andy continues to repeat the motions, enjoying the moan Sharon lets out each time he applies pressure. He arches up against her and shifts the angle of his hips to strike a new spot inside of her. Her back arches hand she drops her head back, rocking her hips quickly against his, her rhythm lost and the promise of release driving her quick movements.

"I'm so close," Sharon whimpers.

"Let go," Andy orders her and rubs his thumb back and forth across her clit as he bucks up against her. He watches her face and pinpoints the moment her control snaps. She rocks down hard against him and moans his name as she lets go, her fingers tightening against his biceps. Andy's face screws up as he manages to eek out a second release, a tinge of pain running alongside the fire flicking through his body. She half heartedly moves her hips as she chases the tail ends of the ecstasy before slumping against him.

"Oh my darling…" She murmurs and presses a kiss to his neck, her eyes drooping as she comes down from her high. Andy chuckles as he drops his head back against the wall again, his own eyes closing as well. Sharon sits up a few minutes later and groans as she pries herself away from Andy. She slips off of the bed and makes her way to the bathroom, taking a few minutes to clean up.

Andy groans and uses a tissue to clean up quick before pulling up his boxers again. He moves underneath the blanket and waits for Sharon to join him. She steps out of the bathroom, her last remaining stitch of fabric had been discarded to the cold tile. She climbs into bed next to her husband and reaches over to turn the light off before snuggling closer to him. Sharon rests her head on his chest and threads her legs between his, her arm easily slinging around his waist.

"Comfy?" Andy asks.

"Yes," Sharon nods, her hair tickling the underside of his chin. Her mouth opens wide as she lets out a yawn before snuggling just a little bit closer and pulling the blankets up around her.

Andy wakes up in the middle of the night and is surprised to find the bed empty next to him. He sits up and scans the small room with his eyes, finding Sharon curled up on the couch. She was wrapped up in one of the sheets from the bed and her head was tipped against the glass, her eyes closed, her lips forming silent words. He watches her for a few moments, knowing her well enough to know that she was praying. She'd prayed every night since they had brought Ricky home. He tosses the blankets to the side and climbs out of bed, padding the few feet across the carpeted floor towards her. She lifts her head as she hears him moving before opening her eyes and smiling at him.

"Hi."

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I got up to get a glass of water," Sharon says as she sits up a little bit, "The view looked inviting."

"It is a pretty nice view," Andy says as he looks out the window. The room was situated on one of the higher floors of the hotel so they had a decent view of the campus and the downtown area. He pulls his eyes away from the window and reaches out to stroke her shoulder, "Come back to bed?"

"Sure," Sharon nods, getting up from the couch before climbing back into bed with him. She sighs as she stretches her legs out and tucks her arm under her head. Andy tucks his arm around her waist and presses his lips to her shoulder as he closes his own eyes, easily falling back to sleep. Sharon lies awake for a while longer before succumbing to the soft snores coming from her husband.

In the morning the two of them make their way downstairs for breakfast bumping into Vicky as they step into the hotel's restaurant.

"Sharon! Hi," Vicky smiles, "I didn't think you were going to make it out."

"Change of plans," Sharon smiles and wraps her arm around Andy's waist, "I got in last night. Andy and I are going to make a little weekend of it."

"That sounds like fun. I am making one last stop by Nicole's and then heading to the airport."

"Will you tell her we're going to swing by around lunch time? I'll call her before we leave here," Andy asks.

"Of course," Vicky nods, "I should get going. Don't have too much fun."

"Oh you know Sharon," Andy teases, "I think we have only educational stops and shopping planned for the weekend."

"Mmm, only that, huh?" Vicky hums as she steps away, a grin playing on her lips, "Your next neighbor might not be so sympathetic."

Sharon's jaw drops open as the other brunette walks away with a grin on her lips, offering a wave to them before she disappears out the front door of the hotel. She smacks Andy in the abs and fixes him with a glare as a blush creeps up her neck.

"Why didn't you tell me Vicky was staying in the room next to ours!?"

"I didn't think it warranted a warning. Also you distracted me," Andy says with his own grin, "Why does it matter if it was Vicky or a stranger?"

"Because I have to look her in the eye again," Sharon shakes her head before letting out a laugh, "Oh god."

"Let's go get breakfast, someone worked up my appetite last night," Andy grins and Sharon hits him again, this time softer, before following him into the restaurant.

On Sunday afternoon Sharon looks away from the window as they begin their descent into LAX. She looks over at Andy and squeezes his hand with a smile on her lips. He looks up from the book in his lap and smiles back at her, arching his eyebrow.

"What?"

"I really enjoyed this weekend with you," Sharon tells him, her thumb stroking over his knuckles, "I've missed you lately, and I know that that's my fault…I'm just glad…"

"Hey, I enjoyed this weekend too," Andy interrupts, "But, for better or for worse. That's what we promised each other. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

"Good," Sharon smiles at him and leans over to kiss him, "I love you."

"I love you too, my beautiful, sexy, smart, amazing Mrs. Flynn," Andy smiles back. He squeezes her hand and puts his bookmark in to mark his spot as they touch down on the tarmac. He gathers both of their bags from the overhead bin, carrying them as they make their way of the plane and into the airport, "Did you park here?"

"No, I took a cab, we can just take one home," Sharon says as she wraps her arm around his and they make their way out of the terminal area.

"Mom! Dad!" Andy turns as he hears Libby's voice carry over the crowd, finding the kids standing in a group by one of the waiting areas. He nudges Sharon and points towards the kids once he gets her attention.

"Oh!" Sharon smiles as they make their way through the crowd to the kids. Emily, Ricky, and the twins meet them part of the way, immediately tackling Sharon and Andy with hugs.

"We missed you!" Drew says as he wraps his arms around his mother's waist and hugs her close.

"Did you have a good flight?" Emily asks as she hugs her father.

"Yeah, it was a good flight," Andy nods as he squeezes her tight before letting her go, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Mom left the car at home when she left so we thought we'd come pick you up," Ricky says with a shrug, "That way you didn't have to take a cab home."

"You're too sweet," Sharon says as she wraps her arms around her son and hugs him, "Did you have a good time at Mark's?"

"I did," Ricky smiles and nods, "Survived a couple nights away from home. Though I did have to listen to Emily and Sam suck face _all_ morning…"

"Shut up, jerk," Emily says as she punches her brother in the shoulder, "It wasn't all morning."

"Oh it was a good couple hours," Ricky laughs.

"You two…toddlers," Sharon shakes her head and smiles, "Thank you for coming to pick us up."

"Why don't we get dinner out?" Andy asks after looking at his watch, "By the time we get out of here and through the traffic, it'll be the perfect time to eat."

"Can we have pasta?" Libby asks as she hangs on Andy's arm.

"I think that sounds great," He replies as he smiles at his youngest, "What about you guys?"

"Sounds good to me," Sharon replies nudging Emily and Ricky towards the exit as she holds onto Drew's hand while they make their way out. She looks over at Andy and nudges him, "Did you call them?"

"The kids?"

"Yeah."

"No," Andy shakes his head, "Just when I told the twins good night last night."

"They did this on their own?"

"Apparently," Andy shrugs with a smile, "We've raised some pretty good kids."

"I suppose we have," Sharon smiles back before turning her attention to Drew as he tugs on her hand.

* * *

[TBC]


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Sorry it has taken me a bit to get this one out, busy busy bee!

This chapter is going to wrap up this segment of the story and I am hoping to get the sequel (tentatively named "Closing the Deal") started here in the next week or so. That series will start with the Closer and work our way to and through Major Crimes (hence the title) - so please please please, let me know if there are any key moments in either series you would like me to tackle with the Flynn family (obviously I would prefer Closer moments right now, but I'll take anything). I'm going to be doing a rewatch of both series, but I welcome your input as well!

This is a bit of a combo chapter, being a moment within itself, but also going back and capturing some small snippets in time that we didn't get to cover, but are cute little fluffy moments that give a little more background on the twins (shoutout to **Kadi219** and **Maidenpride** for the ideas). Please read, review, and enjoy - and keep an eye out for the next part!

* * *

 _January 2005_

"Who is ready for breakfast dinner?" Sharon asks as she sets down a platter of small pancakes on the table along with a bowl of scrambled eggs and some bacon. Drew and Libby were having their birthday sleepover for their ninth birthday. They had each invited two friends from their class at school and they had all come over after school on Friday. They'd been lucky to have a nice streak of weather so Sharon had sent them all out to play in the yard with Lyla while she worked on getting dinner ready.

"Yes!" The kids all exclaim.

"Alright, dig in," She tells them, watching over for a moment as they start to serve themselves. Once they are squared away eating she steps into the kitchen and grabs her own dinner out of the microwave. She eats as she leans in the doorway, keeping an eye on the mayhem of six nine year olds eating dinner. She jumps when she feels a pair of hands on her waist before turning around to find Andy behind her, "Hi. I didn't hear you come in."

"I'm sneaky like that," Andy smiles, "How is everything going?"

"So far so good," Sharon says as she leans back to put her empty plate on the counter, "They are almost done with dinner and we're going to do cake and presents next. Then I was going to set the girls up downstairs and the boys up up here so they could watch a movie."

"Anything you want me to do?"

"If you want to put the candles in the cake?"

"Sure," Andy nods, kissing her cheek before moving back into the kitchen. He grabs the candles that she'd had laid out and starts to poke them into the cake. Purple ones go in Libby's half of the cake while green ones go in Drew's half. Sharon opens the trash can with her foot and drops the paper plates the kids had used for dinner inside before stepping back out to grab the leftovers. She puts them on the counter before grabbing the smaller plates she had purchased for cake.

"Will you light them please?" Sharon asks as she gets a knife and spatula out of one of the drawers. Andy digs a lighter out from one of their junk drawers and lights all of the candles.

"Eventually they're going to need their own cakes just for the sake of not creating a fire hazard every year," Andy jokes as he lights the last candle before picking the cake up from the counter.

"I offered that they could have separate parties this year," Sharon points out, "They wanted to have a party together still. We only have a few years left where they still think the other gender is gross."

"Don't remind me," Andy rolls his eyes before carrying the cake out. The group sings happy birthday to the twins before they both blow out the candles on their cake. Sharon cuts into the cake and cuts a slice out for Libby then for Drew before starting to cut up the rest of the cake.

"You made our favorites!" Libby says as she looks in amazement between her plate and her brother's to find that each had a different kind of cake on it. The girl was on a kick of bright pink strawberry cake while her brother enjoyed marble cake. Both of them liked white frosting however, so Sharon had gone through the effort of making each of their favorites and stitching them together to make a whole cake.

"Of course I did," Sharon smiles and presses a kiss to her daughter's head, "It _is_ your birthday after all."

"Thank you," Drew grins, showing off a few missing baby teeth.

"You are very welcome," Sharon ruffles his hair before handing Andy a plate of the marble as she takes a slice of the strawberry for herself. After the kids polish off a decent amount of the cake the twins open the presents that had been brought by their friends. Sharon makes sure that they thank everyone before sending all of them off to change into their pajamas once they're done.

Andy stops her as she starts to clear the table telling her he would take care of it. She smiles and presses a kiss to his lips before changing direction and going to the kitchen to make popcorn for the kids. She fills four large bowls with popped kernels before the kids get back from changing. The boys are set up in the living room with two of the bowls and a movie of their choosing before she takes the girls downstairs and sets them up in the family room with the rest of the popcorn and their own movie. After checking the locks on the doors and closing the door to Emily's room she turns off the lights before climbing the stairs again.

"I'm just going to run this out and then I'll be up," Andy says, gesturing to the trash bag in his hand.

"Okay," Sharon smiles and kisses him once more before letting him pass. She makes her way down the hall to the bedroom, leaving the door open before moving into the closet and pulling the door closed behind her. She changes into a pair of sweatpants and one of Andy's worn out Dodger t-shirts before stepping back out into the bedroom. Her hair gets twisted up into a clip and she climbs into bed, grabbing the tote that was sitting on the end and pulling it towards her.

Sharon pries off the lid and sighs as she lifts out the baby books and boxes of pictures within before starting to give a cursory flip through everything. She glances up as Andy steps into the room and starts to unbutton his shirt, heading towards the bathroom. A couple moments later she hears the shower turn on and she returns to her task, laying out each of the baby books before starting to match the loose pictures of the kids with the books. Andy comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around his waist and a billow of steam following him.

"Did you want me to heat you up something for dinner?" Sharon asks as she looks up from the pictures in her hands, "There's still some leftovers from last night, and a little bit from what I made the kids."

"No, I'm good," Andy shakes his head as he heads into the closet, "I just grabbed a burger on the way home."

"You need to cut back on the fast food," Sharon warns him.

"I know, I know," Andy drones as he dresses in some sweats, "You got to feed me something green yesterday."

"Mmm," Sharon hums, unamused, looking up as he comes out, "The goal is not to eat something green every couple of days. I do have some graduations and weddings I'd like to take you two over the next twenty years or so."

"Oh yeah?" Andy grins as he climbs into the other side of the bed carefully, making sure not to dislodge her project, "What are you doing?"

"Organizing pictures," Sharon says as she takes a deep breath and looks at the contents spread out before her, "Vicky said it took her forever to get the picture together for Nicole's graduation party so I thought I would get a head start for Emily's and just kind of see what we have. We take so many pictures of the kids, and outside of their baby books and the few we have around the house, I have _not_ kept up on organizing them."

"I don't know that I've ever seen this," Andy comments as he grabs Emily's baby book and flips open the cover. The first page had two ultrasound pictures pasted inside with decorative tags.

"That is my first ultrasound and the one where I found out she was going to be a she," Sharon says as she glances over. Andy flips to the next page and finds a picture of Sharon standing in front of a mirror with her stomach exposed and a wide grin on her face, showing off the first traces of a baby belly.

"God…Emily's still so young but I forget about how long ago that was," Andy comments as he looks at the picture, flipping through a couple other pages of Sharon as she was pregnant with their daughter.

"Mmmm, time has certainly marched on," Sharon says with a grin on her lips, "Your hair was certainly darker back then."

"You're one to talk, I see those roots before you go to your hair appointments," Andy shoots back as he continues flipping, laughing as Sharon hits him in the chest. He stops on the first picture of Emily he comes across. She was loosely wrapped, laying on Sharon's chest, her thin hair sticking up on end and a completely displeased look on her face. Her mother, however, looked completely ethereal with a wide but tired grin on her face, betraying the months and last painful hours it had taken to get to this point, "She was so tiny."

"I was honestly surprised at how little she ended up weighing," Sharon admits as she takes a moment to look at the picture herself, "I thought she was going to be huge with how big my stomach was. But she was absolutely perfect…all of them were."

"Mmhm," Andy nods in agreement. He flips through the rest of the book relatively quickly before putting it back next to the pictures she was organizing. Sharon sighs as she continues to organize, the two of them occasionally dipping into memories as she goes.

"Remember what happened this night?" Sharon says as she shows Andy a picture of the twins standing on their big kid beds with giant grins on their faces. They were a little over three years old when Sharon had decided to move them into larger beds. They had made it a big event, taking the twins to the furniture store to pick out the kind of bed they want along with their bedding sets. The two of them had 'helped' Andy put them together the weekend they were delivered and were excited to get to bed once they were ready.

"I know this is when we got their beds…what else…oh god," Andy groans and flops back, "That was the night…"

 _Andy shuts the door behind him after stepping into the bedroom._

 _"House locked up, kids all in bed, and the dog is sleeping with Ricky tonight."_

 _"You deserve a reward for managing all of that by 930," Sharon comments as she places her bookmark into the book she was reading before discarding it on her bedside table. She sits up on her knees, the blankets falling down to expose she was only dressed in a worn out tank top and underwear. Her hair gets tossed over her shoulder and bites her bottom lip as she looks at him._

 _"Hello, Mrs. Flynn," Andy says as a smug grin comes over his face and his eyes drag over her body. Sharon laughs and grabs his t-shirt pulling him closer before crashing her lips to his. The two of them quickly end up undressed, their clothes scattered across the bedroom while their bodies sprawl out on the bed. Sharon gasps as Andy bites at the soft skin on the underside of her breast. She locks her legs around his hips and pulls him closer to her._

 _"I want you," She murmurs as she scrapes her nails over his back, "Please."_

 _Andy kisses his way back up to her mouth, capturing her lips in a hungry kiss as he slowly slides into her, a groan escaping him. Sharon moans softly and arches into him as her head tips back._

 _"Oh yes," She hums while rocking her hips up against his. The two of them easily find a rhythm with each other, getting lost in the feel of having the other so close. Sharon opens her mouth to speak before jumping as their bedroom door slams open._

 _"Mama!" Libby calls out, looking towards the closet first. Sharon panics and shoves Andy off of her and inadvertently off of the other side of the bed as she scrambles to pull the sheets up to cover herself, Libby's head snapping towards the bed as she hears the thud of her father hitting the floor along with his muffled curses. The toddler grins and makes her way towards the bed, "Mama!"_

 _"Hi sweet pea," Sharon replies, brushing her hair back from her face as she pants softly, "What are you doing out of bed?"_

 _"Can't find Drew," Libby answers, her tiny eyebrow arching slightly as Andy groans and sits up, only his head and shoulders visible over the mattress, "What you doin?"_

 _"Uh…Daddy and I were just playing," Sharon improvises, her chest flushing even more than it had been and her thighs squeezing together trying to dull the throb, "I got too rough and accidentally pushed him off the bed."_

 _"I'll say," Andy groans softly as he grabs his head._

 _"It's bedtime, supposed to be sleepin," Libby reprimands, eyeballing Andy._

 _"I know," Sharon nods, "Daddy's a bad influence sometimes."_

 _Libby heaves a dramatic sigh and shakes her head, "Oh Daddy."_

 _"What do you mean you can't find Drew?" Sharon asks, redirecting the conversation to why her daughter had so forcefully shoved her way into her room. Libby looks up at Sharon and shrugs._

 _"Can't find him. He not in his bed," She answers simply._

 _"Alright, go back to your room and I'll be right there," Sharon tells her._

 _"Mmtay," Libby nods before leaving the room, not bothering to shut the door behind her. Sharon sighs and looks over at Andy who was still cradling his head._

 _"I'm sorry, are you okay?" She whispers softly as she shuffles to the edge of the bed._

 _"I think I hit my head," He says with a wince as he looks up at her, "And I'm pretty sure you broke my dick."_

"I think I ended up finding him curled up on the couch in the living room," Sharon says with a laugh as she sets the picture to the side, "He didn't even have the tv on, he was just sleeping on the couch."

"And I'm still pretty sure you broke my dick that night, least for a few days anyway."

"Least we finally started locking the door," Sharon grins at him before continuing to laugh, "Oh my god I forgot about this, their first Dodger game!"

 _"Look at my cute little angels!" Sharon coos as she looks at the twins dressed in matching Dodger onesies and grey stretchy pants, "Daddy did such a good job at finding these for you."_

 _"I had to go to like four different stores," Andy says as he steps into the nursery in his own Dodger jersey and hat. Libby grins and kicks her legs when she sees her father, cooing happily at him as he picks her up, "I got a couple in the next size up too, for later in the season."_

 _"And he knows how to plan too," Sharon grins and tickles Drew's feet before she picks him up, "Are the rest of the kids ready?"_

 _"Yeah," Andy nods and grabs the baby bag off of the changing table, "You three ready?"_

 _"Yes," Sharon nods and gives Drew his pacifier, pressing a soft kiss to his temple, "All ready for our first Dodger game."_

 _"Alright, let's go," Andy smiles and holds his free hand out to her before they make their way down to the car. All of the kids climb into the car, situating themselves before Sharon loads Drew into his carseat as Andy does the same with Libby. She notices Ricky watching as she buckles the baby in, looking over to catch the boy's eye._

 _"Excited?"_

 _"Mmhm!" Ricky nods with a wide smile, "I'm gonna get cotton candy!"_

 _"You are? Pink or blue?"_

 _"Blue, duh," Ricky laughs._

 _"Of course, how I could I be so naive," Sharon grins and leans over to kiss him on the cheek before shutting the back door and getting into the front seat. She looks over at Andy as he buckles up, "You have the tickets right?"_

 _"Right here," He says, patting the pocket on his jersey, "Everyone ready?"_

 _"Ready!" The kids echo before Andy backs out of the garage and they set off for Dodger Stadium. Once they get to the stadium Sharon takes the time to slather each of the kids in sunscreen and put hats on their heads. Their seats were supposed to be in the shade this time of day, but she didn't want to take any chances. It was the beginning of summer and she knew there were plenty of sunburns ahead of them, so each one she could head off at the pass would be make things easier._

 _Andy helps Sharon strap into one of the baby carriers before handing her Libby, plopping a white floppy sunhat on the almost five month old's head. It was going to be a long day having all of the kids and two four month olds at Dodger Stadium for the game. They had debated on whether to go or not, but the kids has just gotten out of school for the summer and they'd had a tradition of going to a game the first week out. Sharon had assured Andy that the twins would be fine and worst case scenario she could take them to the car if they weren't dealing well._

 _He does the same thing with Drew and gets the boy strapped to his chest before putting his hat on. He takes the compact baby bag they'd packed from the floor of the back seat and puts it over his shoulder before pointing the kids in the direction of the gate they needed to go in. Ricky grabs his mother's hand as the group starts walking towards the stadium, smiling up at her from under the brim of his hat. Sharon smiles back and squeezes his hand with a quick wink before pulling her sunglasses down off the top of her head._

 _Once they manage to get through the turnstiles and to their seats Sharon and Andy get the kids sat down before Andy starts getting snack orders from everyone. He arches his eyebrow at his wife when he gets to her. Sharon smiles and tips her head back as she looks up at him._

 _"Water's fine," She says, "Split an order of cheese fries?"_

 _"Sure," Andy grins._

 _"Are you going to be able to get all of that with him?" Sharon asks, "I can take him."_

 _"I'll be fine," Andy assures her, "I'll be right back."_

 _"Okay," Sharon smiles, watching him go before patting Libby on the back as she lays against her mother's chest and snoozes quietly. She watches the kids as they play and keep themselves before the game. Ricky laughs as he catches his baseball glove as Charlie tosses it to him. He puts it on his head before climbing into the seat next to Sharon. She smiles at him and adjusts his hat before booping him in the nose gently, "Are you excited to start baseball next week?"_

 _"Yeah!" Ricky nods, "So excited. Jimmy and Mark are going to be on my team too."_

 _"I know, I heard," Sharon replies with an excited tone, "That's going to be fun."_

 _"When do I have practice?"_

 _"Your first practice is on Monday, Daddy will pick you up from day camp after work and take you."_

 _"You're not gonna come?" Ricky asks, a pout forming on his lips._

 _"I have to take Em to ballet," Sharon tells him, "But Dad and I are going to trade off. So I'll take you to the next practice and he'll take Em to ballet."_

 _"Okay," Ricky says skeptically before jumping up out of his chair, "Daddy that's a lot of food!"_

 _"Yeah, you've all been downgraded to a community colleges with how much this cost," Andy comments. Sharon looks up and her eyes widen as she lets out a quick bark of laugh, startling Libby. Andy had two drink carriers stacked on top of each other with straws stuck into the strap of baby carrier. There was an order of nachos and cheese fries balanced on top of the drinks with two bags of cotton candy stuffed in next to Drew._

 _"Oh my god," Sharon laughs as she stands, reaching out to help him start unpacking before pulling her hands back, "Wait, wait, wait, I need a picture of this."_

 _"Shar, come on," Andy whines, "I'm going to drop something."_

 _"One second," Sharon tells him as she digs in the baby bag before pulling out the camera. She takes a step back and focuses the camera on Andy before taking a couple pictures, "There. Now we can get these cheese fries off my baby's head."_

 _"They're not on his head."_

 _"I know," Sharon grins as she starts to take things from him, carefully pressing a kiss to his lips._

"I still have that stacking capability," Andy tells her with a grin as he props himself up on his elbow.

"I know, you manage to show it off when you put dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher," Sharon says as she smacks him on the thigh with a grin.

"Admit it it makes you hot," He wags his eyebrows playfully making his wife laugh again. She shakes her head and tosses the picture next to the twins' baby book with the others.

"Hot would be one way to explain it. Homicidal is another."

"I'll remember to write that down for when they find my body in 20 years because I put the cup in the dishwasher wrong."

"Mmm, please do," Sharon arches her eyebrow at him, "It's cute that you think you'll make it another 20 before I kill you."

"I like to set lofty goals," Andy grins. Sharon laughs and rolls her eyes as she flips through a few more pictures.

"How did these get so out of order?" Sharon shakes her head as she shuffles through them.

"I was wondering the same thing," Andy teases, "Your organization is slipping, O'Dwyer."

"Oh hush," Sharon reprimands him with another slap to his thigh before letting out a forlorn sigh as another picture catches her eye, "They used to be so little and snuggly."

"They'll always be little and snuggly to us," Andy replies, "What are you looking at?"

Sharon shows him a picture of her sitting at her desk with both of the twins bundled up on her lap, sleeping as she reads over a file. The young toddlers were dressed in their pajamas and looked positively exhausted with their cheeks pressed to their mother's chest.

"I had taken them for their shots earlier that day, but I didn't have the time to use to stay at home with them. The daycare ended up calling and asking me to come get them," Sharon tells him, "As I also recall, that was the day I found out they'd picked up a certain favorite phrase of yours."

 _Sharon looks in the back seat with the rear view mirror as she sits at a stop light. She'd dropped the rest of the kids off at school but still had the twins with her to take to a doctor's appointment. The two were buckled into their carseats babbling away softly as they flung toys across the back seat and looked out the window at the passing scenery. Her eyes come forward again and the light turns green. She presses her foot down on the gas to start moving forward, immediately slamming on the brake instead as a car flies through the intersection in front of her._

 _Her body jerks against the seat belt and she slams her hand on the horn for a moment before looking back to check on the twins. Libby lets out a yell and flings the stuffed cat in her hand towards the front of the car._

 _"DIW BAG!" Drew yells, slamming his fists against his car seat._

 _"Andrew! Elizabeth!" Sharon reprimands as she presses her foot on the gas again and pulls through the intersection. She shakes her head and sighs as she drives, "You two spend entirely way too much time unsupervised with your father."_

 _"Dada diwbag," Libby giggles and kicks her feet. Sharon shakes her head, trying to suppress her smile as she pulls into the parking lot for the doctor's office. She takes the two of them in for their appointment, managing to wrangle them as the doctor examines them and gives them their shots before providing a sticker and a sucker to perk up their morning. Drew yawns as the two of them get tucked into the backseat, his hazel eyes drooping as he pulls his blanket closer to his face._

 _"Go home now?" He mumbles._

 _"You and sissy are going to daycare," Sharon tells him as she gets Libby buckled in._

 _"Wan snugguh," Drew whines._

 _"I know baby," Sharon sighs softly and presses a gentle kiss to his cheek before closing the back door and getting into the driver's seat again. By the time she gets to the Parker Center the twins are both fast asleep in the back seat. She gets their stroller out and carefully unloads them into the seats, grabbing all three of the bags in the back seat before pushing them inside. The elevator stops a few times before stopping on the floor for the daycare. Sharon gets the twins dropped off, peppering their faces with kisses before hiking her bag over her shoulder and making her way towards Robbery Homicide. She makes her way up to her husband's desk and raps her knuckles against the edge, "Got a second?"_

 _"Sure," Andy nods as he shoves the rest of a bagel into his mouth, pushing away from his desk at the same time. He gets up and follows his wife into a quiet corridor as he dusts his hands off on his pants, "What's up?"_

 _"Do you want to tell me **why** ," Sharon starts with an unamused look on her face and Andy's insides clench, knowing he was in trouble for something, "Our nineteen month old twins screamed 'dirtbag' in the car earlier this morning?"_

 _"Ah…" Andy lets out a short laugh and Sharon's unamused look deepens, "Oh…I…I mean…"_

 _"I have told you to watch your language around them," Sharon reprimands, "They are learning more and more words every day. I don't need to send them to daycare to teach the other toddlers the_ _ **colorful** language they're apparently hearing at home, or at least in the car."_

 _"I'm sorry," Andy admits with a sheepish shrug, "I forget sometimes."_

 _"I know," Sharon sighs, a small smile finally emerging, " **I** forget that I get to deal with mini-Andys for about the first three years until I can start teaching them manners."_

 _"Hey!" Andy exclaims indignantly. Sharon laughs and rolls her eyes, reaching up to adjust his tie and brush her fingers down the front._

 _"Your daughter did fling her stuffed cat towards the windshield in an absolute rage when we got cut off in traffic earlier, I don't think you can argue with me on that one," She explains._

 _"If I could harness that energy I could make her the first female pitcher for the Dodgers."_

 _"Of that I have no doubt," Sharon smiles, her eyes scanning the hallway before she reaches up and grips his chin in her hand, "Watch your mouth, Flynn."_

 _"Yes, ma'am," Andy grins in her grip. Sharon lets him go and winks at him before walking back to the elevator, finally on track to her own office._

"I plead the fifth," Andy replies with a grin.

"Mmm you usually do when our children use less than reputable language."

"You have your own potty mouth moments," Andy reminds her before grabbing the last one, "Ah ha! One that I know what happened before the picture. I believe it was your daughter assaulting me with a hat. I almost had to take her downtown for assault on an officer."

"She did not."

"Did too."

 _"NO! Gotta wear hat!" Libby says sternly as she looks at her father, her eyes narrowing much like her mother's did. She slams the wicker hat down on Andy's head before plopping down in his lap._

 _"You are bossy, Little Miss," Andy tells his daughter as he wraps an arm around her to hold her in his lap. Drew was sitting on the other side of the table happily wearing his own sun hat and pouring apple juice out of the purple plastic tea pot that went with the set Libby had gotten for Christmas._

 _"Not bossy," Libby shakes her head. The flowers from her hat smack Andy in the face and he winces, pulling back slightly, "Pininated."_

 _"You're opinionated? Oh yeah? According to who?"_

 _"Momma," Libby says simply before offering the tiny plate of cookies up to Andy, "Biscuit, Dada?"_

 _"I'd love one," Andy says as he takes a cookie. Libby takes one for herself before putting the plate down in front of her brother. He fills their cups with juice before setting the pot down. The three of them continue to play before Andy hears a throaty chuckle from the doorway. He turns around and tips up the brim of his hat arching his eyebrow at his wife, "Can I help you?"_

 _"I never knew this was something I needed to see," Sharon says gleefully, "Wait until I show Provenza?"_

 _"Show Provenza what?" Andy asks before blinking quickly as he's blinded by a flash, "You did not just…"_

 _"Oh I did," Sharon grins, holding the camera behind her back, "This should go a long way…"_

 _"Witch," Andy narrows his eyes._

 _"Dada! No mean to Momma!" Drew exclaims, reaching over to take Andy's half eaten cookie, "No tweat fo you."_

 _"See you got my cookie taken away!" Andy complains._

 _"Not cookie, biscuit."_

 _"Our children are mean."_

 _"Mmm," Sharon hums with a laugh before stepping into the room and sinking down on the floor next to Drew, "Can I join your tea party?"_

 _"Gotta wea a hat," Libby says, pointing towards a small pile of dress up clothes by their toy box. Sharon leans back and picks out a hat before putting it on._

 _"Better?"_

 _"Much," Libby nods and offers the last cookie to Sharon, "Biscuit, Momma?"_

"Okay, maybe she was a bit much when she was little."

"Little bit," Andy laughs, "But that was also probably my doing."

"I've told you before, they have your temper until I can start teaching them manners."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Andy rolls his eyes before putting the picture in the stack.

"Oh they used to love to swim when they were babies," Sharon comments as she tips the picture in her hand towards Andy. Libby and Drew couldn't have been more than seven months old in the picture. They were both in swim diapers and floating in the pool in the floaty rings they'd purchased for them. Sun hats were on both of their heads and Sharon was standing between them in her own swimsuit. They had learned early on that it was difficult to get both of the twins to smile at the same time if only one of them was giving them attention, so they had to divide and conquer to get both babies grinning for pictures.

"They practically spent the entire summer in the pool those first couple years, even more than the rest of them," Andy comments with a smile as he looks at the picture. Sharon sighs as she continues flipping through pictures.

"First day of school 1999," Sharon says as she holds a larger print out to him, "Nicole's first year of high school, the twins' first day of official preschool."

"That was the first year they were all going to the same place wasn't it?" Andy asks as he looks at the picture.

As Charlie and Nicole had become equally as likely to stay at their father's house instead of their mother's on any given night they had proposed the idea of the kids going to St. Joseph's instead. Nicole was already going to have to move for high school since the Sacred Heart where she and Charlie went only taught through eighth grade. Charlie also knew a lot of kids his age at St. Joseph's from swimming and attending events with his siblings. The decisive factor for the parents was that it was going to be less of a commute for both Sharon and Andy as well as Vicky since she had also ended up moving further away from the school.

"It was," Sharon nods. The first quarter had been a little tumultuous for Charlie and Nicole, getting used to the new school and new people, but had ended up working out well in the end. The school had offered a lot during the her four years of attendance to help Nicole get prepared to go to college from counseling sessions to helping her diversify her activities.

"I can't believe she's almost done with her first year of college," Andy replies.

"Almost done is a bit strong," Sharon laughs, "She just started her second semester, but I'm glad she came home for winter break, it was good to see her."

"It was. I'm glad she's settling in," Andy smiles. Nicole had come home for winter break with tons of stories about how great she was finding college. Being the first one to go off all three of them were worried about how she was going to settle, but were glad to find the girl was spreading her wings away from home and taking advantage of tons of opportunities.

"Oh, their first ski trip," Sharon shows him the next picture of Drew and Libby suited up in their snow gear, each on a pair of skis.

"And Drew's last," Andy jokes as he looks past at the next picture of Drew sitting on the end of an exam table at the hospital with a giant bump on his head and his arm in a lime green cast. After falling down the side of the mountain on his first attempt and breaking his arm Drew had never attempted to ski again, preferring to stay at the condo with his grandparents and play chess with his grandfather, "He learned how to tumble down a hill from you."

"Oh god," Sharon shakes her head with a laugh as he refers to the time she had fallen on the runs of Park City, "You still wanted to marry me after that."

"That I did," Andy grins and kisses Sharon softly. She hums and kisses him back before pulling away and smiling at him.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Let me clean these up and check on the kids," Sharon offers, "Then we can turn in."

"I can take care of the pictures," Andy replies as he sits up properly, knowing she wanted to check in on the kids herself.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," He nods and shoos her away. Sharon presses a kiss to his lips before climbing off of the bed and heading down the hallway to check on the kids. She finds the boys all asleep in their sleeping bags, the menu sequence of the DVD they had fallen asleep watching flickering on the tv. She turns the tv off and turns on a small night light before going downstairs and doing the same with the girls. She makes sure the doors are locked once more before whistling for Lyla. The dog gets up from her bed before following along behind Sharon as she makes her way back to the bedroom. Lyla hops up onto the padded bench at the end of the bed and curls up on the blanket there as Sharon sheds her sweatpants before climbing in bed. She sighs as she settles next to Andy, humming as his arm wraps around her waist easily.

"We're on the downswing of parenting aren't we? We've got kids going off to college…The twins are almost out of elementary school."

"I don't think there is a downswing," Andy responds, "They just get older…doesn't mean they stop needing parents. They just start calling us about boring things though; if they should buy a house, what constitutes a good school…how much money should they put into their 401k."

"Oh god," Sharon laughs and smiles as she looks over at her husband. He lets out a chuckle himself as he rolls his head to look at her.

"No more babies and snuggles…at least for about a decade I'm hoping," Andy says with a wrinkle of his nose and a shake of his head, "And then…"

"Grandbabies!" Sharon squeals before clapping her hand over her mouth, the crinkle of her eyes giving away the grin underneath.

"Grandbabies," Andy agrees much less enthusiastically, "But I reiterate…another decade at least."

"Oh, of course," Sharon nods with mock seriousness. Andy rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he tugs her closer.

"Knock it off or I'll make it two."

"Yes, sir," Sharon giggles.

* * *

[End]


End file.
